


what happened in bataglia’s creek?

by bratlas (orphan_account)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Dark Comedy, Demons, Ghosts, Magical Realism, Supernatural Elements, don’t worry this fic is more lighthearted than the tags make it sound, small town horrorfic, there’s a dog!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-09-02 02:50:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16778140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/bratlas
Summary: “I’ve busted bones, broken stones, looked the Devil in the eye; I hope he’s gonna break these chains.”Donghyuck doesn’t dare look up as a hoarse voice whispers in his ear, “It’s real, and you might want to listen unless you’re keen to end up dead.”





	1. sunday

**Author's Note:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAH I ALMOST DIDNT GET THIS PUBLISHED IN TIME FOR NANOWRIMO 
> 
> but i did it so i hope you guys enjoy your introduction to what’s to come in this story with the first chapter :3
> 
> for the record: bataglia's creek and any other locations in the town are completely made up by me! similarities to real-life places are entirely coincidental

There are three things you need to know before reading this.

For starters, Bataglia’s Creek is anything but a normal town. Next, the characters you’ll be introduced to are far from your average teenagers. And, finally, you shouldn’t get too comfortable. Maybe that’s the first thing I should have told you.

It starts with a prickling at the back of Donghyuck’s neck. They’ve just passed the wooden sign that reads in fading letters _‘You are now entering Bataglia’s Creek! Welcome!’_ , and so far, he’s not impressed.

“How many creepy churches does one state need?” complains Donghyuck as they pass by what seems like the thirtieth dilapidated church in an hour.

“I like it. It’s scenic,” Taeil remarks blandly. Yuta snorts from where he’s been napping in the backseat, voice rising up between the car’s front seats. “The architecture is all the same, it’s boring. No exciting scenery at all.”

“You guys have to complain about everything, don’t you?”

“I’m your younger brother, so, yes. I can’t speak for Yuta, but like, he’s a Scorpio.” Donghyuck leans his seat back, making sure not to hit a chortling Yuta in the process. Taeil sighs, flexing his hands on the steering wheel. “Don’t encourage him, Yuta.”

The Japanese native sits up, bright eyes appearing in the rearview mirror. “He’s funny, though, I like him ‘n his little jokes.”

Taeil doesn’t respond–at least, not in words. Instead, he sighs loudly and keeps his eyes on the road. Donghyuck turns in his seat to grin at Yuta.

“Are you ready?” Taeil kills the ignition and leans his head back against the headrest, shutting his eyes. “Because, frankly, I’m not.”

“Our relatives aren’t the in-your-face kind of homophobes,” Donghyuck explains to Yuta, sighing. “They’re the worse kind.”

“Don’t understand my lifestyle? Good,” Yuta deadpans, getting out of the back seat. Taken aback, Donghyuck blinks at the spot where Yuta had been sitting, and then follows suit.

They’ve barely gotten inside when Donghyuck is assaulted with a flurry of hugs and bright-lipstick-kisses from aunties and other relatives he hasn’t seen since, well.

“Gosh, the last time I saw you, you were just a baby,” one woman who Donghyuck thinks may be his great aunt coos at him, pinching Donghyuck’s cheeks with thin fingers. Thankfully, she doesn’t dwell too long, smacking one last kiss onto Donghyuck’s cheek before moving on to Taeil. Donghyuck is starting to remember why he hated the last family holiday he attended as a kid.

“Please tell me you’re Donghyuck.” A boy who looks to be about the same age as Donghyuck finds him as Donghyuck’s wrestling his bags upstairs, taking one off of his hands and carrying it easily.

“I have no idea who you are, but yeah.” Donghyuck eyes the boy with suspicion.

“We’re second cousins or whatever, I’m Jeno. Apparently you’re gonna be the only person even close to my age here for the entire week, so I had to make friends as soon as possible.” Jeno blinks round eyes at Donghyuck, who squints back, then peers down the hall for which room he was told was his, muttering, “I have a second cousin? I’ve heard your name, haven’t I?”

Unfortunately, he doesn’t get to dwell on it for long, because Yuta comes stomping up the stairs after them, muttering under his breath.

“Fucking _friend_.. _tuh_ ,” Yuta scoffs, before actually noticing Donghyuck and Jeno standing there, watching him. Yuta fixes a grin on his face, clasping his hands together behind his back. “Gentlemen.”

“Your composure would be a lot more convincing if I hadn’t just seen everything that came before it.” Donghyuck shifts his bag to the other shoulder, tone deadpan. Yuta’s shoulders sag, and he drops the smile. “One of your relatives just called me Taeil’s _little_ _friend_. We’re engaged.”

“Well, that’s gotta be a blow to the ego.” Jeno shakes his head. “Donghyuck, I hope you’re okay with sharing a room with me. I’m quiet, I promise.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Donghyuck waves one hand, follows Jeno to his room.

“So you really weren’t kidding about the demographic, huh.” Donghyuck peers out of the kitchen window, into the backyard, where a majority of his family is gathered, talking and sharing drinks, waiting for the food on the grill to finish cooking. Donghyuck and Jeno had elected to stay inside. Jeno said no one took any notice of his absence anyways, but it took begging and bribery for Donghyuck to convince Taeil to make excuses for him.

“Yep. Literally not one person out there except for Taeil and Yuta is below the age of thirty. Tragic.” Jeno joins Donghyuck by the window. “I was checking out what’s fun to do in this town, though. Considering we’re stuck here for a week, I’m gonna try and make the best of it. There’s a library that has free and fifty-cent paperbacks, I’m gonna go tomorrow. Wanna come?”

“That sounds..” Donghyuck closes his eyes, taking a deep breath through his nose, “..immensely boring. But, I’m in. Please tell me you found something more interesting than a library, though.”

“So, I’m just gonna assume you’re illiterate or something because libraries are fun. Also, there’s an arcade, like this is the eighties, and like, some trails to hike in the woods. This town is too small for a movie theater or mall or stuff like that, the nearest city with all that shit is an hour away.”

“Wow. _Exciting_. Old video games and the woods,” drawls Donghyuck. Jeno bumps shoulders with him. “It’s better than nothing.”

Better than nothing, indeed. If he could have it his way, Donghyuck would spend this entire trip holed up in his room, listening to music or sleeping, but Taeil had made it abundantly clear that there would be Minimal Depressive Isolation on this trip. Shame.

“Check this out,” Jeno shoves an open newspaper into Donghyuck’s face. Donghyuck drops the book he’d been skimming through in surprise, shooting Jeno a glare. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Sorry, I got excited. There’s an article talking about the anniversary of these crazy murders that happened here.” Jeno grins, and Donghyuck perks up, snatching the paper from Jeno. “No shit, really? Finally, something interesting.”

“Wow, sorry I haven’t kept your interest piqued. Anyway, yeah.” Jeno leans over Donghyuck’s shoulder so they can read the article together.

_Friday, October 19th, marks the twenty-first anniversary of the string of killings that left the town of Bataglia’s Creek mourning and wrought with terror. In spite of national uproar, the involvement of not only state police but the FBI, all six cases remain unsolved. (cont. page 7)_

“Dude!” Donghyuck hits Jeno on the arm, eyes lighting up. “I knew something was weird with this town.”

“Bullshit,” Jeno snorts, flipping to find the rest of the article in the paper. Donghyuck’s about to go on a long-winded complaint about how Jeno doesn’t know him or what he may or may not have known, but his deep breath is interrupted by a third voice.

“If you really wanna know about those murders, don’t read that paper. It glosses over everything.”

It takes Donghyuck and Jeno a second to locate who’s speaking; there’s no one else in the same aisle as them. It’s only when a pair of round eyes glints at Donghyuck from behind an old copy of Catcher in the Rye that he realizes whoever it is is speaking to them from the other side of the bookshelf, through an empty space.

“Were you watching us? That’s weird. Freak.” Donghyuck pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to ignore the slight throb appearing between his eyes.

“Suck a chode, I was shelving books and heard you talking. You’re not exactly being quiet. Anyways, don’t bother with the paper. I’ll tell you what you wanna know.”

Jeno and Donghyuck walk around the bookshelf to meet who’s speaking. It turns out to be a boy about their age, leaning on a cart of books.

“Oh, so you really weren’t being a freak. Sorry.” Pain dulled down, Donghyuck shoves his hands into his pockets. “So, who are you? What makes you a genius on this particular murder mystery?”

“Well, I’m Mark Lee, ‘n I’ve just done my research on it. When you live in a small town where the nearest mall or movie theater is an hour away and everyone is white and thinks they’re cool but we’re all still surrounded by cows, you find weird stuff to pass the time.” Mark Lee crosses his arms, a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. “And also, my uncle got murdered. Go figure.”

“Nice.” Jeno claps his hands together. “Can we go somewhere else to talk about this? It’s dusty and smells like old people in here.”

“Be nice, that’s just Irene.” Mark pushes the cart down the aisle, up towards the front of the library. At mention of her name, the librarian behind the desk looks up. “Are you calling me old, Mark Lee?”

“No,” Mark answers, shooting her an innocent smile. “I’ll be back tomorrow to help if you still need it,” he tells her as he leaves the cart beside the desk.

“Thanks, Mark,” Irene returns the smile, waving at him. “See you tomorrow.”

“Tell Seulgi hi and get well soon for me!” Mark calls over his shoulder, following Jeno and Donghyuck out the front doors.

“So. Anyways, first I’ve gotta know you guys’s names.” Mark twirls a keyring around his forefinger. “Before I let you into my car.”

“Who says we wanna get in your car?” Jeno retorts, tone suspicious.

“I was just gonna take us to get milkshakes while we talk shit. Are you guys from the city or something? You’re both all spooky.” Mark unlocks his old beater and leans against the hood.

“Well, for starters, yes. Second of all, a bunch of freaky murders happened here and that hasn’t made you the tiniest bit suspicious of strangers?” Jeno raises his eyebrows, crosses his arms. Mark shrugs.

“Happened more than twenty years ago, I wasn’t born then and no one’s gotten murdered since. Besides, no one’s a complete stranger when the total population of your town is like, less than two thousand. Come on, I’ll pay for your milkshakes, you don’t even have to tell me your names, I guess.” Mark opens the driver’s side door of his car. Jeno and Donghyuck meet each other’s eyes, then race towards the passenger seat.

“I get shotgun! I’m taller!” Jeno argues. Donghyuck elbows him out of the way. “Yeah, well, I’m older!”

“No you aren’t, my birthday’s in April!” Jeno hip checks Donghyuck to the side, leaning against the passenger side door to lay his claim. Donghyuck glares, sending a silent threat by raising his fist at Jeno.

“Are you guys always gonna be like that?” Mark asks as they’re climbing into the car. Donghyuck doesn’t bother with his seatbelt, leaning forward between the two front seats. “Yes, because we’re really just friends out of obligation, not ‘cause we actually like each other.”

“That makes more sense. You kinda look like you’d do some brutal bullying to him under any other circumstances.” Mark meets Donghyuck’s eyes in the rearview mirror, gesturing vaguely to Jeno, who gives an indignant huff.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Mark Lee?”

“Oh! Tell me your fuckin’ names already!” Mark hits his palm against the steering wheel. Donghyuck tips his head back, laughing. “Did you forget that you still don’t know our names until just now?”

“Maybe. I’m gonna give you names of my own if you don’t tell me, dammit. He’s Chad and you’re, like, Laney or something.” Mark grins. Donghyuck hits him on the shoulder.

“Every Laney I’ve ever known was a massive bitch. Also, my name is Donghyuck. God.” Donghyuck huffs.

“That’s exactly why I chose it for you. What about you, Chad?”

Jeno rolls down the window and hangs his arm out, snorting. “Lee Jeno.”

“Cool, now that that’s out of the way, wanna hear about some gross murder stuff?”

“It lasted for a week; six people were murdered, five of them were positively identified. No one ever figured out who the sixth body was.” Mark nibbles on his straw, peering around the diner thoughtfully. Donghyuck snorts into his strawberry milkshake. “Imagine being the poor fucker to die on a Monday.”

“I’d be more worried about, you know, being brutally murdered than the day I got murdered on, you spaz.” Jeno scoffs. Donghyuck elbows him and watches Mark expectantly. “Well? Go on.”

“Yeah, yeah. The victims were Johnny Suh, twenty, Na Jaemin, seventeen, Lee Taeyong, twenty, Kim Jungwoo, eighteen, and Dong Sicheng, nineteen. The sixth body was estimated to be in the same age range as the others, it had been so fucked up they were never able to identify it.” Mark winces. Jeno takes a sip of his milkshake before asking bluntly, “Which one was your uncle?”

“Lee Taeyong. He was one year older than me when he died, that’s so....” Mark pulls a face. “My mom doesn’t really like talking about it, so everything I know is just from what info the police released, and like, hearsay from over the years. I’m trying to get Irene to let me see the town archives in the back of the library, I know there's got to be more info there."

“Do you know how they died?” Donghyuck leans in, apprehensive. Mark uses his straw to stir his milkshake around a little. “Taeyong was shot once through the eye and twice through the heart with a bow and arrow, Hunger Games style. They found Johnny Seo’s body stabbed ‘n drowned at the swimming hole, which like, I know it’s been more than twenty years, but I still feel weird whenever I go swimming there-“

“Add that to your checklist of places to visit.” Donghyuck elbows Jeno, who blinks in surprise before shrugging and looking back to Mark, expectant for more. Mark eyes Donghyuck strangely before continuing, “I know a bit more about Na Jaemin, because there was apparently a big deal with his parents being suspected of murdering him after his body was found.”

Mark pauses, finishing the last of his milkshake. “He was found in his house, bent up like a folding chair and blood everywhere. Someone pushed him over the railing of the staircase, he broke his back ‘n cracked his skull open like a melon when he landed.”

Jeno winces, but Donghyuck just nibbles on his straw, eyes wide. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah, holy shit. His parents’ alibis never checked out, but there was also never any evidence circumstantial enough to really bag them. They packed up ‘n moved away, actually, only a few years after, so I’m told. Guess the rumors never really stopped and they couldn’t take it.” Mark shrugs his shoulders.

“D’you think they did it?” Jeno inquires. Mark’s eyebrows raise, and he peers into his empty glass. “I’ve honestly never given it much thought? From what I heard, the kid never really had a good relationship with his folks and that’s what started all the suspicion in the first place, but...I dunno.”

Mark fails to elaborate. Jeno shares a look with Donghyuck. “Not liking your kid doesn’t seem like reason enough to murder them.”

Mark nods, but Donghyuck’s phone rings as he’s opening his mouth to respond. Taking it out of his pocket, Donghyuck stares at the screen for a moment before answering. “Yeah?”

“Listen, I hate this family holiday shit as much as you do, but we’re not about to survive this lunch without you.”

“God,” groans Donghyuck, sinking down in his seat. “Do we have to?”

“Yes. Jeno’s mom says he needs to come take his meds anyways.” Taeil sounds exhausted. It’s only the first day. Donghyuck feels a little guilty, and he pulls a face as he grumbles, “Fine, we’ll be back in a few.”

“Thank you,” sighs Taeil. “See you then. Love you.”

“You too.” Donghyuck hangs up, bumping Jeno’s shoulder with his. “We gotta go back for lunch. Taeil’s being dramatic.”

Jeno throws his head back and groans loudly enough to draw the attention of the bored-looking boy behind the diner’s front counter, his eyes traveling over the three boys at their booth with mild curiosity. It’s only when he notices Donghyuck staring back at him that he faces ahead once more.

“Do you want me to drive you guys?” Mark offers, tying the strings of his hoodie into a bow. Donghyuck’s about to say yes, but Jeno answers first. “I kinda want to walk.”

“Wh–fine.” Donghyuck sighs and remembers what his therapist told him about sunlight being good for you, vitamin D and all that crap. Jeno raises his eyebrows.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, it can’t be that far if you wanna walk.” Donghyuck stands and gets out of the way for Jeno to get out of the booth as well. Jeno looks like he’s trying to hold back a smile, as if he’s delighted Donghyuck’s trying to get along with him.

“It’s only about ten minutes. Maybe less, honestly. Thanks for the offer, Mark.” Jeno faces Mark, who smiles and shrugs one shoulder. “No problem. Come to the library tomorrow and we might be able to find some stuff in the archives.”

Donghyuck looks over his shoulder as they’re leaving. Mark’s at the counter, talking to the boy working there. Their hands are resting one on top of the other.

It’s cool out, and Donghyuck is thankful for the breeze rustling up orange and yellow leaves. It’s a quick walk from downtown to the little cluster of suburbs, silence between Jeno and Donghyuck comfortable. Donghyuck is grateful, for it seems as if Jeno senses that neither of them particularly needs to fill the quiet space with anything.

They’re walking over the bridge that connects the neighborhoods to town. The roar of the river beneath them fills Donghyuck from the feet up.

“There’s a trail just over there that leads down to the town quarry. The swimming pond, that Mark was talking about.” Jeno points towards the end of the bridge. Donghyuck raises his eyebrows, and sure enough, a path through the woods comes into view.

“I wanna go there after lunch,” he tells Jeno determinedly. To Donghyuck’s surprise, Jeno just shrugs, smile creeping onto his face. “I was gonna ask if you wanted to..”

The smile drops from Jeno’s face far quicker than it had appeared, his eyes focusing on something over Donghyuck’s shoulder.

“What?” Donghyuck turns around, and screams.

Standing at the edge of the woods, dripping wet, is a boy – at least, Donghyuck thinks it is – in bloody, torn clothes. His skin is gray, purple in areas, rotting away and exposing tissue and bones in others. There’s the gleaming silver blade of a knife sticking out of his chest, and he stares at them with milky eyes, leering blackened teeth. Donghyuck’s chest burns like–like he’s being held underwater, and can’t get any air even if he gasps, and it only gets worse the longer he stares at the figure.

Donghyuck doesn’t realize Jeno’s pulling on his arm, tugging him away, until he trips over his own feet and stumbles into motion, broken out of his airless trance.

“Come on, come on!” Jeno’s insisting, voice high with terror. Drinking in big gulps of oxygen, Donghyuck is too terrified to look behind him again once they’re running away.

“You two okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost–“ Taeil gives a quiet oof at the force with which Donghyuck runs into his chest, hugging his older brother tightly.

“We-we were walking back and we saw this thing by the bridge, it-it-it looked like a dead body but it was standing up, a-and it was smiling at us,” Jeno is stumbling over his words, stammering frantically to Yuta and trying to catch his breath at the same time when his mother comes out onto the porch, grabbing Jeno by the upper arm.

“Can you just be back on time for once, Jeno? Why am I constantly dragging you away from some poor soul who doesn’t have time for your stories? You’re hopeless!” She insists, pulling Jeno away. Jeno’s gone silent, like he’s used to this, eyes cast towards the floor.

“I saw it too, Taeil, there’s–“ Donghyuck is reminded of that burning lack of air in his chest, and he nearly claws at his throat again, gripping Taeil’s shirt tighter. “I saw it and I couldn’t breathe, and we were talking to this kid about someone who drowned at the quarry–“

“Donghyuck, listen, just take a breath,” Taeil wraps his arms tightly around Donghyuck until the younger is quiet, terrified and shaking. “I believe you, I know, just breathe for me.”

Between deep breaths, Donghyuck manages to stutter out, “He was-he was all rotted a-and..”

“I’m not gonna let it hurt you, Duckie, I’ll kick his ass. Come inside and get some water, let’s take a second for yourself.” Taeil guides Donghyuck into the house. They go to the kitchen, which is mostly empty, to Donghyuck’s relief. It’s only Jeno in there with his mother, who is muttering under her breath as she rifles through her purse for something.

“Here,” she finally slaps an orange pill bottle into Jeno’s hand, “take it already, so you stop talking like the crackpots we see on the streets.”

Taeil frowns over at the woman, but she doesn’t notice, leaving the kitchen without another word. Jeno stares at the bottle in his hand.

“It’s okay. I know I’m not crazy,” Jeno finally mumbles as if he’s reassuring himself, opening the pill bottle and shaking one tablet out. “I know what I saw.”

“Does she always talk to you like that?” Yuta leans against the counter beside Taeil, who’s still hugging Donghyuck. Donghyuck’s shaking has yet to subside. Jeno looks up, just noticing the three standing there.

“Oh, yeah. It’s fine, I’m used to it.” Jeno swallows his pill dry, sitting on the counter and swinging his legs. “I’d probably be questioning my sanity along with her right about now considering what I saw, but I wasn’t the only one who saw it, that means I can’t be crazy, right?”

“What the hell _was_ that?” Donghyuck demands from Taeil’s embrace. Jeno’s brow furrows and he chews on his lower lip for a moment before answering, “I think it was the guy who was found at the swimming hole. It-it only makes sense, right? Mark said..” he trails off, frowning.

Donghyuck’s reminded of looking into those cloudy, dead eyes and feeling as if he’s choking on nothing. Squeezing his eyes shut until the image leaves his brain, Donghyuck pulls away from Taeil at last. “It had to be. I mean, it only makes sense.”

“Hold on, what are you talking about?” Yuta interjects, but Taeil shuts them all up before the conversation can continue. “We can talk about this more later, and trust me I want to, but we should go sit down before someone realizes we’re gone.”

Lunch seems to go by at half-speed. Donghyuck finishes his plate while everyone else is still working on theirs, and he spends the better half of the hour trying to convince Taeil to let him be excused early. (Taeil isn’t swayed, as he seems determined to make Donghyuck sit through this and suffer just as long as he and Yuta are forced to. At least Donghyuck can share annoyed looks with Jeno and Yuta whenever an older family member shares their archaic political views.)

“Taeil, tell them about when you proposed to Yuta,” Donghyuck pipes up at a lull in the conversation. He does it mainly for the way a pair of his aunties and uncles’ faces twist bitterly. Taeil chokes on his water, laughing a little. “Yeah, sure.”

Delighted that Taeil’s going with it, Donghyuck grins into the remnants of food on his plate and listens to Taeil recount having to get Yuta’s ring size without the other realizing what was going on, then the trouble it had been to convince – bribe – Donghyuck to sing at the proposal.

“For the record, I didn’t actually take his bribe,” argues Donghyuck, “That would’ve just been wrong. I just only agreed on the condition that I got to sing a bunch of bad 2000’s pop music after everything else was said and done.”

Yuta’s grinning wickedly when he chimes in, “And it wasn’t even that bad! He saved you your money and whatever else you bribed him with, baby.”

Donghyuck sees a few of his relatives cringe at the pet name, and he has to feign coughing to hide his laughter. Taeil’s remarkably composed, sending a fond smile in Yuta’s direction. “I know you enjoyed it, but darling, I had to listen to him grow up singing those songs. So I hate them all now.”

Donghyuck is doing everything in his willpower not to laugh, but the way his granny has her chopsticks frozen halfway to her mouth is about to do him in. _Darling_. God, Donghyuck loves whatever Yuta’s brought out in Taeil.

The subject changes soon after that, and Taeil finally allows Donghyuck to be excused, much to the younger’s relief. Donghyuck brings his dishes to the kitchen, setting them in the sink. There’s footsteps behind Donghyuck.

“Thanks for making that tolerable,” Jeno says from beside Donghyuck, putting his own plate into the sink. “You and your brother are funny. Yuta too.”

“Yeah, I like them,” Donghyuck mumbles. There’s been something gnawing at the back of his mind for most of the hour, and he wanders over to the fridge to take out some water bottles before asking, “Do..do you still wanna go back to that trail? I get it if you don’t anymore, but I gotta know now. I have to psych myself up if I’m going alone.”

Jeno faces Donghyuck, an astonished look on his face. “You’re kidding, right?”

For one horrible second, Donghyuck’s heart drops, but then Jeno grins. “No way I’d let you go all by your lonesome, I don’t wanna miss all the fun.”

And like that, they’re shoving extra bottles of water into a plastic grocery bag from under the sink and sneaking out through the back door. Donghyuck and Jeno are just leaving the neighborhood when Donghyuck’s phone buzzes in his pocket.

1:27 p.m.

gemini soulmate: Be careful. I love you

duckie: i will, love you toooooo

Donghyuck shoves his phone back into his pocket and takes a deep breath.

They’re coming up to the trail. Donghyuck can already hear the water roaring under the bridge, and goosebumps rise on his skin when the trail comes into sight.

“No freaky dead guys as far as I can tell..” Jeno gulps audibly, and Donghyuck gives a nervous giggle. “Let’s hope it stays that way.”

The trail is well lit by sunlight filtering through the trees and reflecting off of the river just to their right. Every noise, every twig snapping underfoot or animal skittering through the brush in the distance has Jeno and Donghyuck startled, peering around for anything out of the ordinary.

It’s too cold for anyone to be swimming this time of year, but Donghyuck can hear voices as they get closer to the other end of the trail, where it widens out to the swimming hole and open area surrounding it.

“There’s..no one here.” Jeno peers around, walks to the water’s edge. “What the hell? You were hearing that too, right?”

Nodding, Donghyuck squats down and swishes his fingers through the shallowest part of the water. All at once, he’s assaulted by flashes of a silver blade in moonlight and liquid crimson, the feeling of water going up Donghyuck’s nose and down his throat, flooding his lungs. Donghyuck falls backwards onto the muddy bank, chest heaving. There’s a phantom pain between his ribs, stabbing and harsh.

“Are you okay?” Jeno kneels beside Donghyuck, who waves him off with one hand, eyes still on the water.

“People go swimming here?” Donghyuck asks incredulously, getting to his feet with Jeno’s help. Jeno shrugs, brushing some dirt off of Donghyuck’s back. “Maybe it looks more inviting in the summer...hey, there’s a dock a little ways down. Wanna check that out?”

Donghyuck follows Jeno until they reach the wooden dock the latter is talking about. The planks creak beneath the boys’ feet, and Donghyuck is sure to step carefully. The dock seems stable enough, but he doesn’t want to get too comfortable and end up falling in.

“There’s something out there.” Jeno points a little ways out from the end of the dock, where bubbles are coming to break the water’s smooth surface. It takes Donghyuck and Jeno another half-second to realize the bubbles are coming closer and closer. Donghyuck’s only backed up one step when a hand reaches up out of the water, then a second, purple fingernails clawing at the planks as whatever it is pulls itself out of the water.

Donghyuck recognizes the body as the boy they’d seen at the edge of the woods before, except this time he isn’t putrid and decomposed, only soaking wet and bloody. He sits up, coughs out red-tinted pond water and then levels a dark gaze on Jeno and Donghyuck. “Well. Hello.”

Donghyuck feels like his lungs and chest may just close up from fear alone, but he manages to stammer out, “You died here m-more than twenty years ago, you’re not real, you’re not real, this is not real.”

He can smell iron and stagnant water much more strongly now. Donghyuck doesn’t dare look up as Johnny Seo’s hoarse voice whispers in his ear, “It’s real, and you might want to listen unless you’re keen to end up the same.”

Jeno gives a quiet whimper from beside Donghyuck, and finally, Donghyuck gathers the courage to look up. Standing at his full height, Johnny’s got a few inches on both of them, a hair-raising sight with his soaking, bloodstained clothes and deathly pale skin.

“What do you mean end up the same?” Donghyuck takes another step back, stumbling over an awry plank. For one perilous second, his balance wavers towards the edge of the dock, threatens to send him falling into the water, but an icy hand on his arm steadies Donghyuck. Staring from Johnny’s bone-white fingers around his wrist to Johnny’s face, Donghyuck gulps. It’s real, it’s all real, and Donghyuck’s desperately going to need to write about this all in his journal tonight. He wonders how much his therapist would worry for him if he told her about this week when he returns.

“I mean, whatever killed me and those other people, it never left this town, and meddling in old affairs is only gonna have it smelling fresh blood around here.” Johnny lets go of Donghyuck, his skin beginning to turn gray and rotted once more. He backs up towards the end of the dock. “You know how to find us, but we –and it– knows how to find you. Do something or get the fuck outta dodge, kid.”

Johnny’s eyes roll back into his head and he falls backwards over the edge of the dock. Donghyuck flinches, but there’s no splash; he opens his eyes, and Johnny is simply gone.

“We have to find the other murder sites,” Donghyuck decides with finality, marching past Jeno off the dock and towards the trail. He can hear Jeno loping after him. “What? Are we not gonna talk about..that, back there?”

“Pretty straightforward, was it not? We’re dealing with this now, Steven King-novel-style. Johnny said we know how to find the others, that has to mean the other murder sites, right?” Donghyuck walks along the trail back the way they came, moving fast to put as much distance between himself and the water as possible. “If he was telling the truth and we’re in danger, that’s, uh. Not good.”

“No kidding, but..” Jeno trails off into silence. Donghyuck doesn’t ask him to elaborate, and Jeno never does so on his own.

Donghyuck’s googling ‘Bataglia’s Creek murders’ on his phone as he and Jeno walk back home, scrolling through article after article.

“All these are just talking about what great kids the victims were,” grumbles Donghyuck. “I got something on one of them, though; there’s a picture of Dong Sicheng’s house on here, and I swear we’ve walked past it in the neighborhood before. There next?”

“Today?” Hesitation and perhaps a hint of exasperation colors Jeno’s tone, and Donghyuck glances over at him. “We can go tomorrow. Today’s been...a lot.”

Sighing in relief, Jeno’s shoulders sag. “Thank god. I like you, but you’re kinda crazy.”

“Thanks.”

That night, Donghyuck’s dreams are vivid, almost more real than life. He’s walking down an unfamiliar hallway, moonlight streaming through the window at one end. Donghyuck can hear rain pelting the house, and at the end of the hall, lightning flashes outside the window.

“What do you _mean_ you’re spending the night?” Donghyuck doesn’t realize someone else is pacing the hall until they walk right through him. A boy about his age, holding a bulky cordless telephone to his ear, stops at the window and peers out. “Fucker, what if the power goes out?”

“Don’t tell me I’m being dramatic, Kun,” he whines, “It may not be that bad where you are, it’s dumping here.”

Donghyuck can’t hear what the other person is saying, but the boy groans loudly, turning and walking back down the hall. This time, Donghyuck has the conscience to move out of the way and avoid getting walked through. He follows after the boy, into the kitchen of the house.

“What if the power goes out and I can’t go to fricking Jungwoo’s because you have the car and I have to sit all alone in the dark? That’s lame,” He complains. There’s another pause, and the boy grins, trying not to laugh. “Ugh, fine. I love you too. Bye.”

Thunder crashes directly overhead, and both Donghyuck and the boy jump. “Don’t freak yourself out, Sicheng, it’s just a storm. Jesus,” he tells himself, one fistclenched at his side. Donghyuck’s mouth forms a small ‘o’ as he realizes who the boy is, where they are. What’s about to happen.

Donghyuck sees it, but Sicheng doesn’t. Lightning flashes outside and the silhouette of someone – something – is illuminated outside the window, standing in the yard. Donghyuck wants to call out, tell Sicheng to turn around and see the figure outside, call the police, but even if Sicheng could see him or hear him, it wouldn’t make a difference. Donghyuck knows how this will end, unfortunately.

Sicheng wanders back down the hall, to what Donghyuck assumes is his room. Donghyuck follows, stands in the middle of Sicheng’s room as Sicheng climbs back onto his bed, resuming homework that must have been interrupted before. He sits and works in silence for maybe five minutes before a rock crashes through the window, making Sicheng startle. Sicheng peers over the foot of his bed at the rock, which is at least the size of his fist, with wide eyes. Donghyuck can see the way Sicheng’s brow furrows, color blanching from his face.

Pushing raven hair out of his eyes, Sicheng slides off of his bed and exits his room. Donghyuck lopes after the tall boy, Sicheng’s pace quick, but not nervous. He’s back in the kitchen in seconds, picking up the phone from its receiver and dialing a number.

Donghyuck chews on his lower lip, watching with apprehension. Now, knowing Sicheng won’t notice him, Donghyuck steps close enough to hear who’s on the other line. He almost feels bad for breathing a sigh of relief with Sicheng when someone picks up. As if Donghyuck doesn’t already know how this ends, like he’s watching a horror movie and rooting for the protagonist despite knowing the killer got them and could get Donghyuck too.

“Dong Sicheng, if you don’t-“

“Dude, a rock just flew through my fucking window!” Sicheng’s voice is insistent, and he peers around now, wide eyes darting to each window. “Kun, come home, I seriously don’t wanna be here alone.”

“What? Sicheng-“

The line goes dead right as the loudest crack of thunder yet shakes the entire house. Sicheng yelps when the phone crackles with electricity in his hand, dropping it at once.

Donghyuck feels very cold and lethargic, struggling to keep up with Sicheng as the other boy runs down the hall to a different bedroom, crawling under the covers. Everything goes black.

Donghyuck’s awake, sweaty, his heart beating out of his chest and his entire head pounding. He peers around; he’s in a blue bedroom, and across from him, Jeno’s asleep in the other bed. Something black moves out of the corner of Donghyuck’s eye. He knows better than to go looking for it. Instead, Donghyuck lies back down, pulls his blanket over his head, and squeezes his eyes shut.

“Back to sleep, back to sleep, back to sleep,” Donghyuck murmurs to himself over and over. Once his heart calms down, it’s nearly too easy to fall asleep again.

Sicheng’s just barely dozed off. Donghyuck’s curled up on an armchair in the corner, though he isn’t sure when he got there, nor how long it’s been. It’s hard to move at first, Donghyuck’s fingers twitching weakly. Donghyuck chooses to stay still. He must be meant to. Sicheng turns over in bed, brow furrowed as he tries to get comfortable. One of his hands ends up dangling over the side of the bed; Donghyuck wants to yell at him for being so foolish, but this still isn’t some film production that Sicheng’s gonna make it out of, and it’s only a matter of when he’s going to die.

It’s too late. A jacketed arm creeps out from under the bed, its hand clothed in a stained white glove. The too-long fingers make Donghyuck’s skin crawl, and he watches in frozen horror as the hand rears back and grabs Sicheng’s wrist, pulling the boy off of the bed.

Sicheng’s eyes shoot open and his lips part to scream but he thinks better of it, choosing instead to grunt, “What the fucking hell?” After a few seconds, Sicheng manages to escape the creature’s grip, and at the same time, whatever had its grip on Donghyuck lets go.

Donghyuck is sluggish still, and the effort it takes to follow Sicheng as he sprints down the hall is like wading through quicksand for Donghyuck, but he pushes onward. The feeling lessens when they escape through the front door, and Donghyuck almost feels a moment of relief. It’s dampened just as soon as it arrived when there’s high-pitched, hysterical giggling from all around. It’s as if there’s surround-sound speakers, projecting the laughter from every direction imaginable, almost drowning out the rain. It makes Sicheng freeze, his spine going rigid as he stops short in the middle of his front yard.

On the right side of the house, the edge of the woods looms, dark and ominous. On the left side, the driveway leads out to the road. Donghyuck realizes he hasn’t heard or seen any cars pass this entire time.

What Sicheng does next has Donghyuck so shocked he almost forgets to follow and not just watch from where he stands. Sicheng turns and runs towards the woods, glancing over his shoulder and staring right through Donghyuck at his house. It’s dark, empty, windows like eyes staring down at Sicheng and Donghyuck. Something moves in one of them, and that prompts Donghyuck to hurry after Sicheng into the pitch blackness of the forest.

The rain is muted by the trees. Donghyuck would be unsettled if he wasn’t listening desperately for footsteps other than Sicheng’s, for Donghyuck himself moves in total silence. Sicheng seems to know where he’s going, winding through the trees hurriedly. Branches whip at his face, tear his clothes, but Sicheng doesn’t care.

Donghyuck can see lights filtering through the trees up ahead. He knows Sicheng sees them too, because he speeds up, gasping with exertion. They’re only yards away from where the trees finally start to thin out again and open up to another backyard, a house in the distance. Sicheng stops for just a second to catch his breath.

It’s a second too long. Branches wind around Sicheng like gnarled arms when he leans against a tree, tearing large holes into his clothes and slashing his skin open. Donghyuck’s thinking of how his great-grandpa always told him to not bleed on the forest floor, for you’d never know what could catch your scent and follow you, corporeal or not.

Too bad he can’t tell Sicheng that, but, Donghyuck supposes it’s a bit too late.

Sicheng thrashes and pushes at the branches, swearing loudly. “Fuck!” he finally screams, “Fuck you, let me go!”

Laughter starts up again. This time, there’s something darker, guttural beneath the manic giggling, and it makes Donghyuck shiver.

“Asshole!” Sicheng grits his teeth. “I’m not fucking scared.”

Donghyuck almost wishes he could wake up. A face takes shape out of the branches and roots winding and gripping Sicheng tighter and tighter, inches away from Sicheng’s own face. Tendons and rotted muscle slowly stretch over the blackened wood forming the skeletal face, and there’s a faint orange glow from the empty sockets where its eyes should be. Its teeth slide out of its upper and lower jaws, jagged and caked in old blood. Donghyuck wishes so badly he could wake up, but he’s here, watching Sicheng stare straight into the face of this...this thing.

“Not scared?” it snarls, voice coming out inhuman, not even a vague mimicry of any imaginable voice. It talks like nails being scraped on a chalkboard, pitched much lower, so deep it rumbles through Donghyuck like the bass in a speaker on full volume.

“Do I look scared of you, you ugly motherfucker?” Sicheng laughs, though it’s shrill. “If you’re gonna kill me, do it already.”

There are no more words, only a high-pitched noise that threatens to deafen Donghyuck as the creature’s mouth opens wide, tar-like saliva dripping from its teeth, and it leans in. Sicheng does just about the ballsiest thing Donghyuck’s ever seen; he works his jaw for a moment, and spits directly into the thing’s mouth.

Sicheng whoops noisily, works one leg free from the root locking it in place, and he begins kicking at any others he can reach. The moment of statuesque shock he’s earned is enough for Sicheng to wriggle out of his trap, and he sprints towards the edge of the woods once more. Donghyuck is frozen in place, can only watch the gnarled, thorny black branches wind and twist together into a body that’s at least seven feet tall.

Black smoke hovers around the creature’s body, and Donghyuck smells sulfur. He’s getting dizzy, and...numb, all of a sudden. It’s a cold, empty feeling deep in his gut, something he hasn’t felt since when Taeil first moved away from home, and Donghyuck missed his older brother, his best friend, so bad it made his chest ache, made all his favorite songs blur together into monotony and every food taste bland. Donghyuck’s vision blurs for a moment, lids heavy.

Sicheng’s stumbling now, coming to a near halt before his knees buckle and he falls, catches himself on his hands. Donghyuck wonders hazily what’s making him ache. What’s making Sicheng’s stomach drop and his eyes threatening to shut, to just go to sleep instead?

“You’re not giving up now, are you?” a voice whispers in Donghyuck’s ear. Warmth spreads throughout his chest again, and he whirls around, scrutinizing the dark woods for anyone or anything. When he finds nothing, Donghyuck turns and catches up with the demon, who is now cloaked in a long, hooded coat. Long-fingered hands with dirty white gloves poke out of the sleeves. It grabs Sicheng who has gotten back to his feet and nearly made it to the open air, by the back of his shirt.

The demon throws Sicheng back towards the trees with ease, and Sicheng slams into one before crumpling to the ground. He scrambles away from the tree before he can become entangled again, facing the demon and gulping.

“The fuck are you waiting for?” Sicheng asks, voice cracking, “If you’re going to kill me, get it over with!”

The demon vanishes in a cloud of smoke and reappears behind Sicheng in a fraction of a second, reaching around to stab into Sicheng’s throat with a massive butcher’s knife. When it withdraws the blade, blood spills from the wound. Sicheng stumbles forward a few steps, clutching his neck as he turns to face the demon.

Coughing up blood, Sicheng gurgles to speak, but can’t. Crimson pours down his front, stains his lips and chin, blooms over the front of his shredded sweater. Sicheng collapses onto his side, thrashes in the dirt for a moment.

He’s still, and Donghyuck’s heart sinks. Donghyuck finally runs to the other boy, unable to help himself, and he has to suppress a scream when Sicheng coughs again. Sicheng struggles to his feet, one hand still attempting to stem the steady flow of blood from his throat. Fury blazes in his eyes, tears rolling down Sicheng’s pale cheeks, and in his final act of defiance, Sicheng spits a mouthful of blood at the demon.

His eyes roll back, and Sicheng falls to the ground once more, limp. Dead. No matter how bold, no matter how hard he fought to get to safety, he’s still dead. Donghyuck knew it was going to end like this, but Sicheng’s courage only makes it hurt more.

“Wake me up!” Donghyuck screams, finally, because the demon feels realer and realer by the second. Donghyuck swears it turns its glowing gaze on him right before he’s jolted into blackness.


	2. monday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark’s mean boyfriend, a meaner dog, and the meanest demon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha *whips* this chatter is sort of scattered and i’m sorry for that but i promise this story will be more structured as it goes along i have the whole thing planned 
> 
> uhhhh i should have put this in the first chapter notes but: updates will be sporadic because i either am a Writing Maniac or i get 2 sentences typed per day.
> 
> also! i have a playlist/soundtrack of sorts that goes with this fic. [>here](<iframe) it is! feel free to give it a listen while u read if u wanna.

“Dude, are you okay?” Jeno’s sitting up in bed, squinting over at Donghyuck. Donghyuck sits up as well and discovers that he’s crying, his heart beating too hard.

  
“Are you having weird dreams too?” Jeno asks instead when his first question garners no answer. Donghyuck gives one slow nod. Jeno’s quiet, staring at the floor. After a minute or two of thinking, Jeno speaks up again. “Come on, let’s go get some water or something. We can talk. If you wanna.”

  
“Yeah. I’d..” Donghyuck trails off, eyes going out of focus briefly. He shakes his head, blinking a few times. “We’ll talk about it. Yeah.”

  
“Come on,” Jeno whispers, climbing out of bed and shuffling towards the door. Donghyuck’s sore, his legs stiff like he’s been running too much. Donghyuck does his best to ignore it as he gets up, grabbing his hoodie from where he’d left it on the floor last night and pulling it over his head.

  
The kitchen is already occupied when Donghyuck and Jeno walk in. Taeil’s sitting on the counter, Yuta standing between his legs. Taeil has a mug of coffee in one hand, and he’s sipping it while he and Yuta talk in soft tones. The warm smile on Taeil’s face makes Donghyuck feel a little better right away.

  
“Morning,” he singsongs dully right as Taeil looks up to see who’s coming into the kitchen.

  
“Hey. You look like shit, are you alright?” Taeil queries. Laughing through his nose at Taeil’s bluntness, Donghyuck shrugs. “Had a pretty wild nightmare, and ‘m seeing ghosts again.”

  
Jeno makes a confused noise, widening his eyes over at Donghyuck. “What do you mean _again_?”

  
“What do you think I mean?” Donghyuck retorts, addressing Taeil once more. “Yeah. We saw one yesterday and I’m having weird dreams about this town and stuff that’s happened here. Why did we come here of all places for holiday?” he interrogates, eyes widening as the cogs start turning in his head.

  
“Not too loud,” Taeil reminds. “And, Granny wanted to come here. Everyone else is wondering the same thing, why she chose this place, and no one’s gotten any answers. We can leave if you really want t-“

  
“No,” Donghyuck interrupts forcefully. “No, that’s, um...” he’s about to say a bad idea, but that’ll just make Taeil want to leave more.

  
Donghyuck shrugs. “They’re not bad ghosts or anything. Just kinda spooky. Gimme some of your coffee.”

  
“Can you say please? Brat?” Taeil grumbles even as he’s handing his mug to Donghyuck. Yuta laughs and tucks his face into Taeil’s neck.

  
Donghyuck and Jeno get out of joining everyone else at breakfast, thankfully enough. They leave the house with Jeno’s backpack full of apples and water bottles, munching on pieces of toast as they walk along.

  
“What did you dream about?” Jeno inquires, tossing his crust to the side of the road where some bird or other animal will eventually get it.

  
“Dong Sicheng. How he died. He-“ Donghyuck frowns. “He fought really hard, Jeno. It’s unfair.”

  
Donghyuck is well aware of how ridiculous that sounds. Sicheng is long dead, twenty-one years to be exact. But it is unfair, at least, Donghyuck thinks so. Jeno seems to agree, or at least is choosing not to laugh at Donghyuck’s remark, because he nods his head.

  
“Whatever killed them all isn’t human. It’s some type of monster, or demon, I don’t know, but it was so scary,” sighs Donghyuck, crossing his arms. “I wanna talk to someone about this. Someone who actually knows something.”

  
“We will,” Jeno reassures, readjusting the straps of his bag on his shoulders.

Mark’s in the front of the library, talking to the woman behind the desk when Jeno and Donghyuck walk in. Mark looks up, eyes widening slightly. He gestures towards them, and whines, “C’mon, Irene, they wanna know about the town! Let us see the archives, most of it is just gonna be boring stuff about how this town was built anyways.”

  
Approaching the counter, Donghyuck stands beside Mark and looks the librarian in the eye. Irene is smiling, but her sharp eyes read no-bullshit. Donghyuck smiles. “I have an essay to write on what I did over my holiday, and including some history about the town will get me extra credit, you see–“

  
“History like what? The people who died here? I’m not an idiot. Those were people I knew, and they deserve to rest already.” Irene begins stacking some books on the desk to her right.

  
“Isn’t most of that stuff public record anyways, though?” Jeno stands beside Donghyuck, brows slightly furrowed. “It’s not like we’d be getting information illegally or something.”

  
Irene pauses and narrows her eyes at Jeno. “Do I _know_ you?”

  
“We’ve never met in my life, miss. So can we see the archives or not?” Jeno widens his eyes, blinking innocently. Irene purses her lips, looking at Jeno, Mark and Donghyuck for a few seconds before heaving a sigh. “Fine. Mark, the key is hanging-“

  
“I know, thank you!” Mark grins, bouncing in place with excitement. He leads Jeno and Donghyuck behind the desk, grabbing a key off a hook on the wall. They walk down a hallway that opens up to a room full of bookshelves, except instead of books these hold baskets full of papers, stuffed manila folders, envelopes, etcetera.

  
“Everything’s organized chronologically. We just have to find the nineties and start there, I guess.” Mark sighs. “Let’s all start looking, I guess. Yell if you find anything.”

  
The three boys meander off to different aisles. For a few minutes, there’s silence save for the sounds of things being shifted around, papers rustling. Donghyuck is just reaching for a basket labeled _‘June-December 97’_ on one of the shelves when sharp, excruciating pain threatens to split his head open. Muffling a yelp, Donghyuck falls onto his knees clutching either side of his head.

  
“Guys–“ he chokes, though Donghyuck doubts either boy hears. Hot red seeps into his vision, stinging Donghyuck’s eyes, and he can feel the blood pouring over his hands, no doubt from the wound on his head-

  
“Donghyuck!” Mark shakes him, and Donghyuck gasps, scrambling to sit up and almost butting heads with Mark in the process. Donghyuck’s head pounds again as if someone’s hit him with a damn baseball bat, and he lies back down, fingers curling into his hair tightly. He can feel the blood pouring out, pooling around him, and Donghyuck whimpers, kicking weakly. “Stop, stop, make it stop!”

  
“Hyuck?” Jeno’s joined them too now, and Donghyuck can only lie there until the pain fades, until he can’t feel blood that isn’t there anymore. He’s lightheaded, chest heaving, and when Mark touches Donghyuck’s arm gently he flinches.

  
“Sorry,” breathes Mark. “Are you okay?”

  
Donghyuck removes one hand from his hair, stretches out cramped fingers slowly. He nods, keeping his eyes on the carpet until Mark speaks again.

  
“What happened?”

  
“It’s hard to explain,” Donghyuck answers, voice faint. He accepts one of Jeno’s hands and sits up slowly this time. Donghyuck hugs his knees to his chest. “I found some stuff from ninety-seven,” he mumbles, pointing to a basket a couple of inches behind Mark. He must have pulled it down when he fell, because some papers have scattered.

  
“Cool? I guess? Are you sure you’re okay?” Jeno asks nervously. “I don’t like what just happened, should we-“

  
“Are you of all people going to suggest we go home?” Donghyuck glares, voice hardening. “I’m fine, let’s start reading this stuff already.”

  
So, the three boys sit there in the aisle, flipping through folders and newspaper clippings with meticulous care. It’s silent save for the quiet rustle of paper for ten or so minutes before Jeno makes a quiet, triumphant noise. “I found October. Let’s all look.”

  
The first half of the month is uneventful save for a few notably large thunderstorms preceding the one on the night of Sicheng’s death.

  
“Here. One body found,” Mark speaks up, voice oddly flat. Jeno and Donghyuck both see why when Mark turns a newspaper clipping towards them. A school picture of a young man with round, apprehensive eyes and a shy smile stares back at them from beside the headline ‘Local student found dead near forest’. Skimming the article, Donghyuck catches the name Lee Taeyong.

  
“Is that–“

  
“Yeah,” Mark mumbles. “I dunno why I even feel weird about it. It’s not like I knew him.” Mark shrugs. “Anyways, is there something in particular we’re looking for?”

  
“I need...like, locations. Where did they live? Where they died? Names of people who are still around that we can talk to?” Donghyuck chews on his lower lip. “Would Irene know anything?”

  
“Good luck trying to get anything out of her. She knew most of the victims, won’t talk about it.” Mark laughs. Grasping at straws, Donghyuck huffs. “Does the name Kun ring a bell?”

  
“Yeah..” Mark narrows his eyes at Donghyuck, expression confused.

  
“He knew Sicheng, they lived together or something..” Donghyuck explains. “Do you know him? Does he still live around here?”

  
“Yeah, but-“

  
“I want to talk to him,” Donghyuck decides, standing up. Jeno frowns. “Wait, Hyuck-“

  
“You guys stay and hold onto anything that looks important, okay? I really need to find this guy and talk to him.” Donghyuck hurries back the way they came, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll meet you at the milkshake place in an hour!”

  
Placing his hands on the top of the desk forcefully enough to draw Irene’s attention from her computer screen, Donghyuck gulps. “Do you know where I could find a guy named Kun?”

  
“Why?” Irene folds her arms. Donghyuck mimics her. “I need to talk to him. It’s about what happened in 1997, and what could start happening again.”

  
Irene’s stony expression doesn’t change, but something shifts in her dark eyes. She rips a piece of paper off of a nearby notepad, scribbling something onto it before folding the paper and handing it to Donghyuck.

  
“Be careful,” Irene says, after a moment’s hesitation. Donghyuck shoves the paper into his pocket and nods. “I....yeah. I’ll try. Thank you.”

This is the same house as the one in Donghyuck’s dream. It’s been repainted, but the windows are the same, glaring Donghyuck down as he makes his way up the driveway and to the front door. He tries not to look over at the woods at all.

  
When he rings the doorbell, Donghyuck hears a dog barking inside, a man’s voice urging it to be quiet, and then, the door opens. A man maybe in his thirties or forties stands there, holding back a drooling rottweiler with one of his legs as he offers Donghyuck a warm smile.

  
“Are you Qian Kun?” Donghyuck asks, looking at the crumpled paper in his hand and then back at the man.

  
“You’re speaking to him, yes. I don’t mean to be rude, but who are you?” Kun’s smile doesn’t falter, but it’s not so genuine anymore, caution flickering through.

  
“My name’s Lee Donghyuck. I-“ Donghyuck pauses when the dog starts growling, barking again at something in the yard behind him despite it being empty. Kun’s smile turns into a frown and he steps back, holding the dog’s collar. “You can come in, leave your shoes by the door.”

  
“He doesn’t..bite, does he?” Donghyuck jumps a little when the dog’s booming bark reverberates around the house after Kun shuts his front door.

  
“Only boogeymen,” responds Kun, leaving Donghyuck to wonder if he’s joking or not. He lets the dog go, and it bounds over to Donghyuck to sniff him all over. “Her name is Daisy, by the way.”

  
“Good girl..” Donghyuck pats Daisy’s head lightly, then looks up at Kun again. “Anyways. I don’t even...know where to start, so I’m gonna start word vomiting and stop me if you have any questions.”

  
Kun shrugs and gestures for Donghyuck to follow him to the living room. Everything is eerily familiar, even though rooms have been painted different colors, furniture replaced. Donghyuck sits in an overstuffed armchair, curls his legs up underneath him. Kun, taking a seat on the couch, nods for Donghyuck to carry on.

  
“So I’m here this week for a family holiday, lame, right? But weird stuff has been happening to me and my cousin, like, right after we learned about what happened here. Because this week is the same week it happened twenty-one years ago, right? We-we saw Johnny Seo, down by the river,” Donghyuck pauses to take a breath, catching the way Kun pales, “and last night, I had a dream. About this house, and the boy that lived here, and what happened in the woods. Sicheng called you that night, and when I found out you still lived in this town I just..I need answers. I’m not sure what you can tell me, ‘cause you weren’t here, but..”

  
Kun is silent for a long time. Almost too long. Donghyuck’s about to ask if he overstepped his boundaries, was too abrasive with his words when Kun takes a deep breath and speaks again. “What happened in the woods?”

  
“What?” Donghyuck’s heart skips a beat, and Kun meets his eyes. “Someone found my boyfriend’s body dumped in a field miles from our house. I never knew what happened. Just that someone cut his throat, and he died alone, because I didn’t feel like driving in some rain.”

  
“Things wouldn’t have turned out differently if you’d come back that night,” Donghyuck tells Kun in a quiet voice. “I don’t know if you’ve thought you could’ve protected him or saved him, but he was gonna die no matter what. Maybe you would have too if you’d been there.”

  
Kun studies Donghyuck’s face for a long minute, not bothering to hide the pain in his own expression. Finally, Kun nods, scratching behind Daisy’s ears. “Tell me what happened. If you can.”

  
Donghyuck pulls his knees to his chest, hugging them as he recounts following Sicheng through the house, and eventually into the woods. He tells Kun about the laughter, the numbing cold, the way a pale imitation of a face formed from the trees, ready to take Sicheng. Donghyuck tells Kun about Sicheng’s fight till his very last breath.

  
“He was really brave,” Donghyuck mumbles, resting his chin on his knees and staring at the floor. “He should’ve lived.”

  
“You’re telling me.” Kun chuckles bitterly. Donghyuck looks up to meet his eyes. “Sorry. You don’t wanna be dragged into all of this, do you?”

  
“Not one bit, but if people might get hurt again, I might as well try to help,” sighs Kun. “This town has always been a bit off. Everyone just seems okay with ignoring it, Sicheng wasn’t. He said he didn’t like how it always felt like someone was behind him, breathing down his neck, and every so often if it bugged him too much he’d tell the spirits to fuck off.” Kun laughs through his nose, no humor on his face. “Pissed them off, I guess.”

  
“Who lives in the next house over?” Donghyuck points in the direction of the woods. Kun hums. “Kim Jungwoo lived there with his family. He died the day after Sicheng. Been empty since."

  
A chill crawls up Donghyuck’s spine. “How?”

  
Kun frowns, as if he isn’t sure this is information he should divulge, but eventually the older man breaks. “They found him in his bathtub with– he was disemboweled. And his mouth was cut, too. I was still talking to police myself when I heard his mom screaming all the way from here. They were just getting back from the wake, said he hadn’t been in the bathroom five minutes before she found him.”

  
“God..” Donghyuck winces. Kun shakes his head. “Jungwoo was a good kid, he was better friends with Sicheng than with me, but we still knew each other pretty well.”

  
“They claimed he did it himself, with a pair of hair-cutting scissors that were in the bathroom. Found them in his hand and everything, but it didn’t make sense. Not in the _‘no one saw this suicide coming because he seemed okay’_ way, but...in the way that he just.. _couldn’t_ have, you know? Jungwoo was always open about being an anxious kid, he’d call Sicheng when he needed someone to help him ground himself sometimes. He’d have talked to someone. Anyone who knew him – even I knew this – knew he hated blood, too, he felt sick at the sight of it, so if he was going to kill himself why like that?

  
“There was too much that didn’t add up, but they couldn’t positively rule it a murder, because there was no forced entry to his house, no signs of a struggle..and, I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem possible that just a pair of scissors sliced him up like that either.” Kun folds his arms. He looks over at Daisy, who’s staring at the front door, hair on the back of her neck bristling.

  
There’s a single bang on the door. It makes both Donghyuck and Kun jump, and Kun gestures for Donghyuck to stay where he is, getting up and approaching the door. He stops short when there’s another two bangs. Donghyuck’s throat aches something fierce when he tries to swallow, and he coughs, gripping the edge of his seat. Kun takes one more step, and Donghyuck widens his eyes. “Don’t open it!”

  
“I’m not,” Kun reassures, staring evenly at the door. The banging starts again and doesn’t stop this time, rattling the door on its hinges. Donghyuck can feel the knife in his throat, and he gasps, reaching out for Kun, but his fingers fall a few inches short. He can taste iron, hot liquid bubbling up into his mouth, blocking his windpipe and choking Donghyuck.

  
Daisy comes over, nudging her head beneath one of Donghyuck’s hands. His fingers curl into her thick fur, and slowly, the feeling fades until Donghyuck’s slumped in the chair, heart threatening to ram through his chest. There’s still that incessant banging on the door.

  
Then, after an odd squealing noise, the cacophony stops. Donghyuck keeps running his hand along the dog’s back, concentrating on how it feels against his fingers to distract from the panic still prickling just under the surface of his skin. Kun returns to the couch, slow to sit down. He fidgets with his hands, looking at Donghyuck, who doesn’t meet his eyes.

  
“Are you okay?” Kun isn’t able to keep the waver out of his tone, frown lines becoming evident on his face as his brow furrows. Donghyuck scratches behind Daisy’s ears, nodding his head. “Yeah, just..spooked. Has that ever happened?”

  
“The week all the murders were happening. I stayed with friends, it still hurt too much to come back here, and even then there’d be banging on their doors like that. I didn’t come back to this house for a few more months after everything, but after that week nothing ever happened. Until now.” Kun’s gaze flickers towards his front door. Donghyuck is silent, lost in thought.

  
“Thank you. For..being ready to listen, I guess?” Donghyuck finally says. “I mean, when people die like this and it’s never solved, there are so many different opinions on what happened, and people make up theories that go from like, government assassinations to paranormal activity or some bullshit,” he rolls his eyes, jumps a little when Daisy starts licking his hand. “Aw, maybe I love her. Anyways, it’s only natural to be curious, but some people seem to forget that those were still real people with real families who still don’t have all the answers they want, and most of all they don’t have that person anymore. It’s stupid.”

  
Kun looks long and hard at Donghyuck, whose leg is bouncing, eyes cast towards the floor. Donghyuck takes a breath, then changes his mind and closes his mouth again. After another few moments of silence, Kun smiles. “You’re right, you know. It is stupid. And even now, I still get curious people knocking on my door every so often, trying to tell me their ideas about what happened and asking me questions I don’t even have the answer to.

  
“However, when someone..comes to you and tells you things only someone who was there that night would have known, it only seems fair that they should be taken seriously. You’re clever, Donghyuck, and I’d advise you to be careful, but from the looks of it, you’re past that. So, instead I’ll ask: are you sure you can handle what you’re up against?” Kun leans forward, elbows resting on his knees.

  
Donghyuck can’t help the giggling that escapes him, mumbling, “No,” between subdued laughter. “If I die, I die.”

  
“What– kid. No.” Kun’s face is stern, almost like a parent, and it only makes Donghyuck laugh more. “Oh, fuck, I’m sorry. I’m, like, 75% percent sure I can, and that percentage is growing exponentially the more I learn about all this stuff. Is that an acceptable answer?”

  
Kun can’t even answer. He just makes a soft, distressed noise and shakes his head.

Kun refuses to let Donghyuck walk all the way back into town, and though Donghyuck tries to refuse at first, he’s grateful. He hasn’t forgotten the pounding on the door.

  
As Donghyuck is buckling himself into the passenger seat of Kun’s car, Daisy lying quiet and obedient in the backseat, he asks, “What was Sicheng like? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

  
Kun’s smiling. He starts the car and begins down the driveway. “Sicheng could be real quiet a lot of the time, but he was funny; he always knew more than he let on. Was like he had a bullshit detector or something, Sicheng was practically psychic the way he could read between the lines of what people were saying to him.

  
“Lots of people thought he was standoffish, or intimidating, but most of the time it was just his face, because he walked around with his lip curled constantly,” Kun chuckles, “And to be fair, he could be scary when he wanted to. But most of the time Sicheng was about as intimidating as a kitten. He loved to dance, he’d been doing ballet and traditional stuff since he was young, and he was so good at it. I always admired how hard he worked at anything he wanted..”

  
Kun’s voice wavers. Donghyuck looks over, sees tears welling up in his eyes, and swiftly looks back out of his window. He almost gasps.

  
Sitting in the yard, ankles crossed and leaning back on his hands, Sicheng makes eye contact with Donghyuck. Sicheng is covered in dried blood, clothes torn, but his brows are furrowed in determination. He nods once at Donghyuck, who turns to keep watching as Kun drives away from the house.

  
“Did..did you see...” Donghyuck mumbles, turning back to Kun. Frowning, the other shakes his head, and Donghyuck isn’t sure if he should be glad or not. Looking ahead again, Donghyuck takes a few deep breaths, hoping his stomach will stop twisting into knots.

  
“I loved him a lot. I still do. And I don’t just miss him, I miss almost everyone that died. I knew those people, I was friends with them. I really want you to be careful, okay? No one else needs to die.” Kun passes over the bridge into town. Donghyuck sees a flash of what looks like someone standing by the river, but he’s unshaken at this point.

  
“I’ll be careful,” Donghyuck promises Kun, looking over at the older man. Kun smiles sadly, nodding. “Where do you want me to drop you off?” He asks, turning down the main street in town.

  
“You can let me out here, I’m meeting my friends just down there,” Donghyuck points to the diner. Pulling over so that Donghyuck can step out onto the sidewalk, Kun sighs. “I don’t know what exactly you plan to do, but whatever it is, good luck.”

  
Donghyuck reaches into the backseat to scratch behind Daisy’s ears before he gets out. “I’m not sure yet either, but thanks. I’m sure I’ll need it.”

“Dude!” Jeno glares at Donghyuck as he walks into the diner, standing up and crossing his arms. “That was longer than an hour, I’ve been stuck here with Mark and his bully of a boyfriend! He’s even meaner than you!”

  
Jeno’s trying to keep his tone playful, but he can’t stop the slight furrow to his brow, feet shuffling against the floor. Raising an eyebrow, Donghyuck peers past Jeno at the booth he’d been sitting at. Mark stares back like a deer in headlights, the same dark-haired boy from yesterday sitting beside him. Sucking his teeth, Donghyuck responds, “Oh?”

  
“I’m sorry I’m late, I had to do some sleuthing.” Donghyuck grabs Jeno’s wrist and pulls him back over to the booth. As Jeno’s sitting down and sliding over, Donghyuck examines his nails. “Mark, tell your boyfriend to quit it.”

  
“Say it to my face,” the other boy bites back before Mark has a chance to respond, and Donghyuck fixes him with the most venomous glare possible. “I asked him to ‘cause I figured he’d be nice about it.”

  
“Guys, be nice. Renjun, seriously, I already told you to quit fucking around. Donghyuck, _please_ don’t tear my boyfriend to shreds, he cries easier than you think.” Mark holds his hands up. Eyes widening, Renjun elbows Mark. “Hey!”

  
Donghyuck has to try not to laugh as he sits down. “Whatever. What did you guys find?”

  
“A lot of stuff. Tell us where you went first, though.” Mark leans his chin in one palm, eyebrows raised at Donghyuck. Leaning back and crossing his arms, Donghyuck answers, “I talked to Qian Kun, he told me some stuff about Sicheng and also Kim Jungwoo. I saw some shit on the way here, but nothing bad.”

  
“You really see ghosts? I thought Jeno was bullshitting,” Renjun remarks, eyes widening. Donghyuck shoots him a look. “It’s a family thing. Anyways, let’s start reading.”

  
It doesn’t take long for Jeno and Mark to get out folders, binder-clipped stacks of papers and photographs to lay out on the table for all four boys to pore over.

_21 years ago_

The closer Jungwoo gets to Sicheng’s casket, the harder his heart pounds, feeling like it’s going to jump into his throat at any second. He isn’t sure he can look down at the body inside, truthfully.

  
Adjusting his tie, Jungwoo gulps. He’s almost at the casket by now. Two more steps, and Jungwoo doesn’t have much of a choice but to stare down at what’s left of his best friend. Sicheng looks normal enough, dressed in the black suit Jungwoo had only seen on him one time before – at prom. Sicheng is a little too pale to look like he’s just sleeping, and his brow is a little too furrowed for his expression to be the serene mask of peace everyone expects from death, but he’s still there, saying goodbye before going to his final resting place or whatever.

  
Jungwoo knows for a fact that if Sicheng were here right now, he’d be eyeballing the body in the casket and sipping a drink from the refreshments table, muttering something about the poor fucker being stuck in a box underground with his own rotten sludge. Needless to say, Sicheng wouldn’t have appreciated all the stops pulled out for his funeral, would have cringed at the frilly, cushioned casket he lied in. Jungwoo’s positive Sicheng would have rather wanted to be wrapped in a sheet and buried in an unmarked spot somewhere cool instead – he knows this with such accurate detail, because one night, fearing death by one too many edibles, Sicheng made sure to tell Jungwoo exactly how he wanted his funeral proceedings to happen. Needless to say, this wasn’t it.

  
Jungwoo wishes Sicheng were here to make this more bearable. He’d be muttering jokes to Jungwoo out of the corner of his mouth, leaving the younger giggling at the most inappropriate times while Sicheng’s own poker face wouldn’t budge. Instead, it’s like this, solemn and miserable and way too quiet. It’s too easy to hear anyone cry when no one is really talking, and Jungwoo hates it, because every sniffle, every sob he hears, is amplified, and it makes his ears ring something fierce.

  
Everything is silent. Like, really silent. Jungwoo doesn’t hear any crying, only the ringing that’s fading from his ears. When did the room become so empty? Jungwoo turns in a circle, frowning. His eyes scan the funeral home, but he’s alone. Except for–

  
Whirling to face the casket again, Jungwoo comes face to face with Sicheng, who’s now sitting up, cloudy white eyes staring right at Jungwoo. He’s making a muffled whimpering sound, but Sicheng can’t open his mouth, jaw wired shut by the mortician. Sicheng reaches out to Jungwoo, who can only stare in horror.

  
“Jungwoo? Are you okay?” A hand on Jungwoo’s shoulder makes him jump backwards, bumping into someone else. Taeyong peers down at Jungwoo with concern showing through the tear tracks on his cheeks and the slight wobble to his lower lip.

  
“I-I need–“ Jungwoo’s stomach turns, and he backs away from Taeyong, away from the casket, shaking his head. He looks around for his mom. “I need to go, I need to–“

  
Jungwoo dry heaves. He feels like he’s being punched in the gut, and his tears are finally coming, welling up and rolling down his cheeks in rivers. His mom is guiding him towards the doors, and Jungwoo can only shuffle along with her, sobbing into his hands.

  
“I’m dreaming.” Jungwoo tugs at his hair, taking deep breaths. “Mom, _Mom_ , I wanna wake up, I don’t like this-“

  
“I’m so sorry, baby,” is all his mother can say, stroking Jungwoo’s hair. The car ride home is too slow, and the radio won’t stop playing static no matter what channel Jungwoo turns it to, so he finally just shuts it off, and then everything is too quiet.

  
They arrive home. It takes all of his effort for Jungwoo to drag himself up the stairs, his stomach churning and head pounding. He just wants to go to sleep, but first, he desperately needs to be sick.

  
Jungwoo leans over the sink, putting his mouth to the tap to get some water and swish it around his mouth. It’s cold in the bathroom, or maybe Jungwoo’s shaking just because – he can’t tell at this point. Jungwoo grabs for his toothbrush from the holder, but when he picks it up, it feels different in his hand. Heavier. Jungwoo looks down and inhales sharply. He’s gripping the handle of a gleaming kitchen knife. Jungwoo’s still raising it to his mouth as if to brush his teeth, and it’s as if Jungwoo’s only a witness to what his body’s doing. Trying and failing to drop the knife, to pull his hand back, Jungwoo whimpers, tears welling up in his eyes, as his lips part and the knife gets closer and closer to his mouth.

  
Jungwoo doesn’t feel the knife slicing through his cheek. He just feels the cold metal blade against one corner of his mouth and the inside of his cheek, and then a flash of hotness across his face. Then, blood, filling Jungwoo’s mouth and dripping down his face. Dribbling uselessly, Jungwoo drops the knife, eyes on his reflection. The Jungwoo in the mirror is bloody too, bloodier than can be accounted for by just the wound on his face, and he’s sneering at the real Jungwoo.

Jungwoo’s still warm when his mother lets herself into the bathroom to check on him. He lies in the tub, sprawled like he’d fallen in and never gotten out. His button down, white stained crimson, is torn and Jungwoo’s insides are practically spilling into his lap from a massive slice in his abdomen. Jungwoo sits in a shallow pool of his own coagulating blood. One of his hands, dangling over the edge of the tub, loosely grasps a pair of scissors, free of any blood in spite of the mess.

_present day_

  
“Wait, so let me make sure I have the timeline right; Dong Sicheng was Sunday, Kim Jungwoo was Monday. Tuesday had Taeyong, Wednesday was Johnny Seo, Thursday had Na Jaemin, and then...Friday? Who? And if this Sunday was when I saw Sicheng, why did we see Johnny before Wednesday?” Donghyuck lines up clippings of the obituaries on the table before himself. Mark rolls his eyes, sipping his third soda. “Wow, great detective work. Maybe you saw Johnny first because the swimming hole was the first place you went, genius."

  
“I’ll lunge across this table at you like a fucking rabid animal, Mark Lee.” Donghyuck eyes the other boy before surveying all the papers on the table again. “So, I want to visit Kim Jungwoo’s old house next. It’s gotta be active, I mean...” Donghyuck pauses on Jungwoo’s obituary, shoulders sagging when the boy’s sweet-faced school picture smiles back at him. “Yeah. There next.”

  
“Sure, but if one of us dies you’re getting haunted. So hard.” Renjun folds his arms. Scoffing, Donghyuck once-overs the other boy. “First of all, no one invited you or Mark. Second of all, what if I’m the one that dies? What then? I’ll tell you what then; I haunt you, shitlord.”

  
“You’d be the most annoying ghost ever.” Jeno snorts. Donghyuck snickers, nodding. “I would, wouldn’t it be great?”

  
“Do you guys want to come with us?” Jeno asks Renjun and Mark, earning a Look from Donghyuck. Shooting Donghyuck a Look right back, Jeno leans back in his seat. “More people makes it less scary. Also, no one ever said you were the boss of this operation.”

  
Narrowing his eyes at Jeno, Donghyuck nods slowly. “You know what? Fair. I respect that. Mark, Renjun, you guys coming or no?”

  
Jeno beams.

They take the long way around to Jungwoo’s house, because of all the things Donghyuck thinks Kun would approve of in the name of uncovering secrets, he isn’t sure breaking and entering the empty condemned home of a dead friend is one of them.

  
Mark peers in through one of the dusty windows in the back of the house. It’s at ground-level, one of those small windows in the top of the house’s basement. “I think this is our best bet on getting in without much trouble. Stay back..”

  
“Why?” Renjun asks even as Jeno’s pulling him backwards by the sleeve. Renjun gets his answer half a second later when Mark kicks the window in. It makes less noise than they’d expected, the glass tinkling quietly as it falls inward to the basement floor. Mark kicks around the edges of the window until there aren’t too many jagged pieces of glass sticking out, and he looks at the other three. “I’m not going in first.”

  
“You just did a really great job at making me think you _might_ be cool, and then convincing me you’re not,” Donghyuck marches past Mark and crouches down so that he can wiggle through the window feet-first. “I’ll help you guys.”

  
The window provides at least a little light to the basement, easing Donghyuck’s tension as he assists Renjun in next. Jeno follows, and Mark is last. Renjun looks up at the window. “Is that how we’re getting out too?”

  
“Guess so,” Donghyuck answers, starting towards the stairs up to the rest of the house. Something tells him to wait, so he stops, right before the bottom step.

  
Hands, gnarled and mottled with scratches and burns, reach out from underneath each step, grabbing blindly for legs that aren’t climbing the steps. The temperature in the basement decreases, and Donghyuck watches his breath fog in the air.

  
“Guys,” Donghyuck says, stomping a set of fingers that get too close to his shoes for his liking. The hand retracts with a squeal not unlike the one he heard at Kun’s house. “Guys, don’t let anything you see get to you. It wants to freak us out so we’re vulnerable, but we aren’t scared, okay?”

  
“We aren’t?” Renjun whispers, wide eyes on the stairs. The hands are slowly pulling back underneath the steps. Grinning, Donghyuck places his foot on the bottom step. “Nope. We ain’t afraid of no ghosts!”

  
“Oh my god, do you remember when I made that reference in front of Jisung and he didn’t get it?” Mark elbows Renjun, who pinches the bridge of his nose. “Don’t remind me. That kid alone is the reason we’re losing all culture and humanity.”

  
“That’s great and all, but come on.” Donghyuc waves for them to follow as he starts up the stairs. He hears someone following shortly after, and hopes his sigh of relief isn’t too audible. The knob on the basement door is freezing when Donghyuck turns it, and it sticks at first. Donghyuck hopes to god it isn’t locked, but then the knob turns the rest of the way and the door opens, freeing them to the rest of the house.

  
Scary movies make abandoned houses always seem so scary, in ridiculous states of disrepair, but this house seems relatively normal, save for a thick layer of dust coating everything that’s been left behind.

  
“I’m surprised kids haven’t broken in here before,” comments Donghyuck, wandering throughout the house and learning its layout. Into the living room, which then opens up to the kitchen and dining room, the stairs to the bedrooms above by the couch.

  
“Well, uh, most of us have..you know, respect for the dead and all that.” Mark brushes dust off of his hands. Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “No one’s buried here. We’re not trampling any graves, stop acting like this is sacrilege. It’s just an empty house.”

  
At that moment, a high pitched noise not unlike the one Donghyuck heard in his dream rings through the entire house. All four boys clap their hands over their ears, and Donghyuck peers around frantically for any skull-faced demons or tall, cloaked figures. He finds neither but something does shift out of the corner of his eye, and Donghyuck follows it, a shadow creeping along the wall and towards the stairs.

  
The noise stops. Mark is the first to remove his hands from his ears. “The hell was that?”

  
“That was our friend old Murder McDemon. Guess I pissed him off. Guys, help me come up with a better name for this thing. I don’t wanna just call it It, this isn’t the book and there’s not about to be a weird unnecessary sex scene.” Donghyuck claps his hands together. Renjun stomps his foot. “Dude, why the fuck did Stephen King have to add that into the book? It’s been years and that part still haunts me.”

  
“Years? How long ago did you read It?” scoffs Donghyuck, incredulous. Renjun ambles alongside him as Donghyuck makes his way towards the stairs. Jeno and Mark walk in the direction of the kitchen.

  
“Seven? I was ten, and way too young to be reading that shit, but in my defense, I was left unsupervised. At least reading it improved my comprehension skills, amirite?”

  
“Are you joking? Or no? I can’t tell,” Donghyuck drawls, climbing the stairs. Renjun shoves his shoulder gently when they reach the top. “Are all of our interactions going to be this corrosive? I hope so.”

  
Donghyuck shushes Renjun, ears straining. He can hear the house creaking, old beams and floorboards settling. At least, Donghyuck hopes that’s what it is. He hears something else, too, however, the faint plink, plink, of something dripping into a puddle. His first instinct is to hope it’s just a faucet leaking somewhere, but Donghyuck knows the water has probably been shut off for ages, like everything else in the house.

  
“Do you hear that?” whispers Renjun. Nodding, Donghyuck peers down the hallway when he reaches the top of the stairs. “Do you wanna split up and check the rooms?”

  
Renjun doesn’t answer, just stares back at Donghyuck, so the latter sighs. “No, then? Alright, come on,” he mutters, starting towards the first room. The door is ajar, and it creaks open with ease when Donghyuck pushes on it. The bedroom doesn’t provide much in the way of any clues, cold and empty save for a bare bed, a dusty dresser and nightstand. Donghyuck hums and carries on to the next room. Renjun follows.

“You okay if I leave you alone?” Mark asks Jeno, wandering in the direction of the basement door. “I wanna look down there again.”

  
“You’re not gonna ditch us, are you?” Jeno eyes Mark warily. Laughing, Mark shakes his head. “Dude, no, Renjun would actually kill me if he didn’t die of fright first.”

  
“Do whatever you want, then,” Jeno mumbles, running his fingers over the shelf above the fireplace and watching them come away dusty. He hears Mark descending the basement stairs, but doesn’t pay any attention, instead picking a framed photo up off of the shelf and wiping the dust away to see who’s in it. Jungwoo and some other dark-haired boys he recognizes from the papers grin back up at Jeno, who frowns. Taking a few steps back, Jeno drops the picture, and then jumps when the glass shatters. He stares down at the picture for a second before squatting, taking it out of the frame and folding it up, sticking the picture into his pocket. “Hyuck’ll wanna see this..”

  
“Guys? What was that?” Donghyuck’s voice comes down the stairs to Jeno, who quickly stands back up and approaches the staircase. “I knocked something over, we’re fine!”

  
“Stop disrespecting the dead!” Donghyuck shouts, and Jeno laughs, carrying on to investigate the kitchen.

“I’m gonna check out the bathroom. I..don’t know what’s gonna happen in there,” Donghyuck admits to Renjun. They’ve made thorough work of what appeared to be Jungwoo’s old bedroom, rifling through what was left of his belongings for any clues; they found nothing.

  
“What do you mean?” Renjun’s voice rises, and Donghyuck shushes him. “Don’t worry about it.”

  
Pushing the bathroom door open, Donghyuck takes a breath, preparing for a rush of pain, coldness, anything like he’s been experiencing. There’s nothing. Donghyuck steps further into the bathroom, then immediately regrets it as a foreboding feeling comes over him. Right as he’s turning to face Renjun, who’s still standing in the hallway, the door slams shut.

Mark’s using the phone on his flashlight to explore the basement better, peeking under the steps and behind the water heaters, when he hears the basement door slam at the top of the stairs. Looking up slowly, Mark mumbles, “Oh, that’s not good.”

With a deep gurgling noise, blood starts to run from the tub’s faucet, the showerhead, the sink. Donghyuck does his best to ignore it, reaching for the door knob. Before he even touches it, his fingertips sting as if shocked, and Donghyuck backs into the wall, breath quickening. The sink is already starting to overflow, deep scarlet spilling onto the floor.

  
“Donghyuck?” Renjun calls on the other side of the door, beating against the wood with his hands. “What’s happening?”

  
“Renjun, if you see anything, it’s not real!” Donghyuck shouts back. He feels sick, almost violently so, and Donghyuck slides down the wall, arms hugged around himself. There’s blood all over the bathroom at this point, the spray from the shower causing the blood in the tub to splash back up. Donghyuck can feel it on the floor, soaking through his pants and staining the fabric, but he hardly notices. Renjun is still banging on the door, his voice unintelligible and shrill with terror.

“Jeno!” Mark pounds on the basement door with one fist, glancing nervously over his shoulder. Something is moving in the shadows of the basement, and there’s a rotten smell filling Mark’s nose. He begins to bang on the door with both hands, heart jumping into his throat. “Jeno, come open the door!”

  
The steps creak. Mark doesn’t dare look behind him again, just slams his shoulder against the door, desperate to get it open. “Jeno! Renjun! _Someone_!” he screams, his back getting colder and colder as whatever it is ascends towards Mark. Mark shoulders the door again, feeling it splinter at the force. It’s almost reached him, Mark can practically feel the icy breath down his neck.

Donghyuck stumbles towards the bathroom door, slipping and falling in the slick blood coating the tile floor. He looks back as he’s getting to his feet, and screams at the sight of Jungwoo in the tub, blood dripping from a cut that goes almost all the way to his ear from the corner of his mouth.

  
“Where are you going?” Jungwoo chokes out, reaching for Donghyuck, who in turn reaches for the door handle. It burns hot against his palm as he turns it, but Donghyuck ignores the pain, wrenching the door open and falling right into Renjun’s arms.

  
“Oh, fuck!” Renjun exclaims, peering past Donghyuck into the bathroom. Donghyuck hears more yelling downstairs, though, so he doesn’t stop, just grabs Renjun’s hand – ignoring the squelch it makes due to the blood covering Donghyuck’s own hand – and hurries down the stairs.

  
“Guys!” Jeno calls. He’s by the basement door, which is maybe a quarter of an inch open, thanks to Jeno’s pulling on the knob. “Help, Mark’s in there!”

  
Renjun and Donghyuck don’t hesitate to run over and start pulling on the door as well. Donghyuck’s head is pounding, his mouth tastes like blood and he feels as if there's a knife in his stomach, but he still gets his fingers into the space between the door and its frame and begins pulling. Bit by bit, inch by inch, the door opens, and Mark frantically pushes his way out. A gloved, long-fingered hand makes a grab for his ankle from inside the basement right as he escapes fully. Jeno, Donghyuck and Renjun let go of the door, which slams shut again.

  
“Holy shit,” Renjun and Jeno say at the same time. Renjun kneels beside Mark, who’s still on the floor where he’d stumbled and fallen, and Jeno goes to Donghyuck, surveying the blood on his clothes.

  
“Are you hurt?” Jeno takes Donghyuck’s face in his hands, examining nervously.

  
“I’m fine, just...this was bad. It was a bad idea. I’m sorry I made you guys come here. Let’s go,” Donghyuck leans past Jeno to address Mark and Renjun.

  
“How are we getting out? I’m not going back in the basement,” Mark insists. Waving him off, Donghyuck drags himself to the kitchen. “Nah. We’ll just use the back door.”

“Oh, fuckin’ _shit_ , Donghyuck, what the bitch?” Yuta looks up from his book, stopping abruptly in the rocking chair on the porch to widen his eyes at the two boys making their way up the front walkway. “What happened to you? Why are you all bloody? Why’s Jeno got the thousand-yard stare going?”

  
“No one got hurt, I’ll explain when I’m less miserable. Can you create a distraction so we can get inside and change without anyone – especially Taeil – noticing?” Donghyuck heaves a sigh. Yuta looks unsure for a moment, but then he groans, marking his page. “Yeah, fine. Give me a minute.”

  
Yuta gets up and walks into the house. They can hear him from outside, striking up loud conversation with the folks inside. Donghyuck waits a minute or two before making his way inside, Jeno following. They manage to sneak upstairs and to their room, unnoticed.

  
Donghyuck isn’t so sure he can do this, whatever _this_ is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo! writers really like when you interact with our works, so leaving a comment would b awesome! it doesn’t even have to be a long paragraph analyzing what you liked about every part– just something quick saying what your favorite part was or asking questions or whatever is enough to make a writer’s day better! we love feedback!! 
> 
> anyways, if u wanna u should hit me up on twt @honeyboyjeno i love new friends even if i’m bad at making them!


	3. tuesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the midst of everything they’ve discovered, Donghyuck, Jeno, and Renjun have a relatively tame day. Thank god.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m sorry it took me so long to update with a chapter that isn’t even exciting. i’m Going Thru Some Stuff rn and my life is hectic. i’m also sorry this chapter is like 3k shorter than the first two i just wanted to give the boys (and myself) a break.  
> uhhh idk when the next update will be but if ur still reading thanks for sticking around

  
  
  
  
  
“Taeil!” Donghyuck groans, “Come on, we aren’t leaving.”   
  
  
“Yeah, we are. It’s my job to keep you safe and if you’re coming home covered in blood and going looking for trouble with supernatural shit I’m not doing my job well enough.” Taeil crosses his arms across his chest. Donghyuck glares at Yuta, who shrinks a little and holds his hands up. “I had to tell him...”   
  
  
“I trusted you,” hisses Donghyuck before looking at Taeil once more. “We can’t leave, not when that thing is still out there. What if it hurts someone else? What if more people get killed?”   
  
  
“What if you get hurt, Donghyuck? What if you get killed?” Taeil’s voice raises an octave. “What if something happens to you because you’re never careful enough and I have to live with the fact that I let you go chasing around all the things that go bump in the night and one of them eventually got you?”   
  
  
“So we’re just gonna leave Jeno to deal with all this stuff alone?” argues Donghyuck. “What if he gets hurt, what about the other people here?”   
  
  
“I don’t care!” Taeil isn’t shouting, but he raises his voice enough for Donghyuck to fall silent, staring at his older brother with wide eyes. Taeil rubs his temples. “You and you alone are my responsibility, Donghyuck. I know how that sounds, but my job is to keep you safe, and that’s what I’m going to do. End of discussion.”   
  
  
“No, not end of discussion,” Donghyuck insists, “I’m not leaving when there’s something here that’s going to kill people!”   
  
  
“What if it kills _you_ , Donghyuck?” Taeil stresses. “Are you even thinking about that?”   
  
  
_Way more than you could imagine,_ Donghyuck thinks, but he doesn’t say that. Instead, he shoots back, “And what if it kills you? Or Yuta? What then?”   
  
  
“Don’t start-“   
  
  
“Start what? You’re being ridiculous!” Donghyuck holds his hands out. Taeil’s eyes widen, and he laughs, incredulous. “I’m being ridiculous? I’m not entertaining this argument anymore, you’re the child and I’m the adult. We’re leaving. When you come inside, start packing, Donghyuck. I’m serious.”   
  
  
Donghyuck’s mouth snaps shut and his jaw trembles, tears welling up in his eyes. It’s rare that Taeil pulls the older brother card on him like that, because he knows just how much Donghyuck resents being so harshly reminded who’s in charge. Taeil walks back inside, followed by Yuta. Donghyuck’s shoulders slump. He sits down on the back porch steps, and Jeno joins Donghyuck a second later.   
  
  
“What’s gonna happen if we leave?” Donghyuck mumbles, chewing on his lower lip. Jeno is silent for what feels like a long time; he’s unsure about how to answer.   
  
  
“I don’t know, but I’m scared to be here alone,” Jeno admits, voice faltering as if he wants to say more, but decided against it. Donghyuck scoots a little closer to Jeno, and Jeno leans his head on Donghyuck’s shoulder.   
  
  
“I’m not going. Taeil can act as scary as he wants but he can’t force me to do anything.” Even as he says it, Donghyuck isn’t so sure. He’s never seen Taeil in a mood like that, angry and scared and frustrated all at the same time. Donghyuck understands, too; Taeil’s been more or less raising Donghyuck his entire life, and the idea of losing his little brother must be a terrifying one.

  


However, Donghyuck is certain that they’ll all die trying to leave before he gets killed trying to fight this thing.

  


“I’m not gonna go. Don’t worry,” Donghyuck reassures Jeno, eyes on the sky. The sunrise is turning it all shades of orange and muted blue, gray clouds covering the sun.

  


“What if he really forces you?”

  


“He won’t.”

  
  
  
  


Donghyuck’s sitting on his bed, poring over some of the papers Jeno had brought home from the library archives. Jeno’s nose-deep in some book on the other bed, and he jumps a little when the door opens and Taeil leans in.

  


“Donghyuck, are you serious?” Taeil enunciates, eyebrows raising. Cutting his eyes towards his older brother, Donghyuck crosses his arms. “Yeah. I am.”

  


“Is he pack- oh,” Yuta peers into the room from behind Taeil. Donghyuck swears he sees a glimpse of a smile on Yuta’s face, but it’s gone and replaced with surprise when Taeil looks at him.

  


“I’m not going,” Donghyuck says with finality, “I won’t get hurt, I know what I’m doing.”

  


“You don’t know that, Hyuck!” Taeil runs his hands through his hair. “Oh my god, you’re going to give me a heart attack, Donghyuck, like, what do you want me to do? I just want to keep you safe!”

  


“Can you have a little faith in me?” Donghyuck gets up and walks over to take Taeil’s hands in his own. “Seriously. Don’t you remember the yellow house? I was fine then, and I was fourteen and stupid when it came to shit like this.”

  


“This is a lot worse than the yellow house,” Taeil almost whines, squeezing Donghyuck’s hands. “You stress me out so much.”

  


“Not to stress you out more or anything, but I think it would kill us if we tried to leave.”

  


“Alright, uh, okay,” Taeil laughs, voice verging on hysteria. “That’s... _god_ , Donghyuck.”

  


“I’m sorry! Just a feeling. But please? Just a little faith in me?” Donghyuck widens his eyes at Taeil, pouting. Taeil glares slightly. “Don’t look at me like that. Fine. Okay. Just..fucking swear to me you’ll be safe.”

  


“Promise. I have Jeno, too!” Donghyuck gestures towards Jeno, who grins goofily. “I’m a good asset.”

  


Taeil hugs Donghyuck tightly, and Yuta sighs. “Guess I’ll unpack the bags..”

  


“I’ll kill you if you get hurt or killed,” Taeil threatens Donghyuck as he pulls back, following Yuta back down the hall.

  


“See?” Donghyuck grins at Jeno. “Told you.”

  
  
  
  


“Mark’s at home chilling today. Yesterday shook him up pretty badly.” Renjun frowns into his milkshake. Guilt grips Donghyuck’s chest and he chews on his lower lip, glancing at Jeno. “I’m sorry again for making us all go there. Can you tell Mark that-“

  


“He already told me to tell you not to apologize, so, too late. It’s not like you knew what was going to happen, and besides, no one made us go. We could’ve always said no when you offered,” Renjun says, his tone matter-of-fact.

  


Donghyuck takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly. “I guess you’re right, but I still feel bad.”

  


“Waste of time. I wanna talk about yesterday, though. What happened when you were in the bathroom?” Renjun asks, dragging his fingertip through the ring of condensation left on the table by his glass. Donghyuck’s eyes follow his movements, and Donghyuck is quiet for a long minute, eventually shrugging his shoulders. “There was blood everywhere. And I saw Jungwoo. That was about it.”

  


Donghyuck hesitates, but decides it’s better to just ask. “What did Mark see? I mean, if he told you.”

  


Renjun is quiet for a moment, staring down at the tabletop with a furrowed brow. “He didn’t...see anything, really, he said it was too dark. He said it was more this feeling, like falling asleep, but bad. Like..like he knew he was never going to wake up, or feel anything but how cold it was down there and how scared he was again.”

  


Donghyuck’s stomach twists into knots. Donghyuck knows what that feeling is, and guilt trickles down his spine like ice water once more for getting Mark, Jeno, and Renjun that close to danger. Maybe Taeil had a point voicing his concerns earlier.

  


No. Donghyuck knows better than to start doubting himself or the situation once it’s gotten this far. He’s got to finish this. A sharp noise brings Donghyuck back to reality, and he blinks a few times, meeting Renjun’s eyes once again. The other boy is holding up his hand, having snapped his fingers to get Donghyuck’s attention. Renjun raises his eyebrows. “You good?”

  


“Yeah. I’m sorry again.” Donghyuck looks down into his milkshake, frowning. “Anyways. What are you guys up for doing today? I was thinking maybe checking out the swimming hole again, or the woods where Taeyong bit it. I think I know where it is, it’s not far from the forest’s edge.”

  


Jeno and Renjun look at each other for a second, their conversation shared through silent looks that Donghyuck can’t decipher. They seem to reach a verdict, because after a few more seconds, Jeno looks over at Donghyuck, chewing on his lower lip. “The swimming hole seems like a good place to start. Nothing too freaky happened there last time, I guess. My standards for weird shit are changing daily.”

  


“You’re telling me,” mutters Donghyuck.

  
  
  
  


As they’re about to leave, Renjun throws a balled up napkin at the boy behind the counter. “Jisung, clock me out at three, I’m leaving early. You can hold it down here.”

  


“Aw, what the fuck?” Jisung huffs, looking up from his phone. “I have to stay here alone while you get paid for nothing?”

  


“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Renjun nods his head. “If any freaky shit happens, just start talking, you should scare off any demons.”

  


Jisung ignores Renjun, looking back at his phone screen as the elder leaves with his friends. It really won’t be hard; this place is hardly ever busy, anyways.

  


Jisung sits behind the counter for ten minutes, scrolling through his phone, when the bell over the door rings and he hears someone walk in. Well, not quite walk. They sound more like they're shuffling, like they have a limp or something. Jisung looks up into the bloody face of a dark-haired boy, his skull split open and exposing gray brain matter. He’s leaning at an unnatural angle as he hobbles to the counter, covered in more blood.

  


“Oh, fuck off!” Annoyed, Jisung picks up the nearest item – a napkin holder – and chucks it at the boy.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s warmer out today than the past two days have been, and Donghyuck welcomes the sun against his skin as he walks between Jeno and Renjun over the bridge into town.

  


“God. I hate ghosts. How did I get roped into this shit?” Renjun whispers, freezing at the sight of Johnny Seo at the mouth of the path to the quarry. He’s bloody, but at least looks human, glaring them down with dark brown eyes.

  


“I told you not to go meddling in shit, Lee Donghyuck.” Johnny crosses his arms as Domghyuck approaches, Jeno and Renjun hanging back.

  


“I’m sorry, did I disturb your oh-so-peaceful hangout in limbo, watery bitch boy? You’re like Jason Vorhees but instead of being scary you’re just annoying. I’m trying to get rid of the problem.” Donghyuck mimics Johnny’s folded arms. Johnny’s expression doesn’t change, and he doesn’t respond, simply rolls his eyes, turns, and starts down the path. Donghyuck looks over his shoulder, gesturing for Jeno and Renjun to follow as he lopes to catch up with Johnny.

  


“ _Get rid of the problem_ ,” scoffs Johnny. “It’s not a roach infestation.”

  


“A problem is a problem,” Donghyuck responds, “by any chance, did you know a Lee Taeyong?”

  


Johnny’s silent, and the air around them grows colder and colder until Donghyuck’s breath fogs in front of him. Shivering, Donghyuck waves a hand by Johnny’s face. “Hello? Do you mind?”

  


Shooting Donghyuck a venomous look, Johnny carries on to the water’s edge. “He was my boyfriend.”

  


“So this demon’s just a huge homophobe, or what?” Renjun asks from behind them. There’s a thud, and he yelps, as if Jeno kicked him or something. Johnny snorts, but he’s not smiling. He stops at the shallows, scuffing his dirty Converse in the soil. “Taeyong would probably still be alive if it weren’t for me, actually. I convinced him to come meet me the night he died, but I got held up and by the time I got there it was...yeah. Too late.”

  


“You died the very next day. You thought it was a good idea to come back out here after finding your boyfriend fucking merked?” scoffs Donghyuck. Before he knows it, he’s pinned to the nearest tree, lungs burning with the feeling of water filling them. Johnny’s leaning down so that his lips are right by Donghyuck’s ear, fingers digging into the younger’s shoulders. “Have some fucking respect. It would be easier helping that thing push daisies with your body, but I’m helping you instead.”

  


Gaping like a fish out of water, Donghyuck struggles to nod his head, squeezing his eyes shut. Johnny’s freezing touch leaves his shoulders, and the pain in Donghyuck’s ribs slowly subsides, leaving him pressed against the tree with his chest heaving. Once he’s caught his breath, Donghyuck gulps, choking out, “Understood.”

  


Johnny’s lip curls, and he shoves his hands into his pockets. “I take it you want to find Taeyong?”

  


“Yeah.” Donghyuck peels himself away from the thick tree trunk, biting the inside of his cheek. Johnny sighs. “You can try. He doesn’t come around often.”

  


“It’s worth a shot,” Jeno chimes in, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. Donghyuck nods his agreement. Johnny stares out at the water, eyes fixed on something none of them can see. “I can’t go. But, um, a ways back on the trail there’s a fork in the path. It hasn’t really been used much since, so it’s overgrown, but it’s still there. Shouldn’t be hard to find. That’s a shortcut to his old neighborhood, we’d meet halfway at this clearing. Good luck or whatever.”

  


“Why can’t you go?” Renjun’s brow furrows. Jeno glances back and forth between them, nervous. Johnny heaves a loud sigh. “I’ve tried. He doesn’t want me there. Now get the fuck out of here.”

  


Donghyuck can see bubbles rising far out in the water, and decides it’s best that they don’t ask any further questions. Ushering Jeno and Renjun back the way they came, Donghyuck peers over his shoulder at Johnny. “Thanks for helping. Seriously.”

  


“Make it count,” Johnny calls back, not bothering to look at Donghyuck.

  
  
  
  


The trail Johnny told them about is indeed overgrown, leaving the boys to push branches out of the way and step over fallen logs, avoid vines and brambles catching on their clothes. Donghyuck stays alert for any off feelings, waits for his stomach to drop and his heart to jump into his throat at any moment, but nothing comes. It’s just him, Jeno, Renjun, and the various animals making their way through the woods as well.

  


It doesn’t take long for them to reach the clearing Johnny was talking about. There are patches of wildflowers growing in the sunlight, and Donghyuck can imagine it almost too well, Johnny alive and lying in the grass with Taeyong, Taeyong tucking flowers behind Johnny’s ears while they talk about nothing and everything. Something almost like longing pulls at Donghyuck’s chest and he wishes harder than ever before that these boys, all of them who died, had gotten something better.

  


“Well..?” Renjun looks expectantly at Donghyuck, who sneers back. “Don’t you think you guys would feel it too if I was experiencing anything?”

  


Renjun doesn’t bother answering, just rolls his eyes. Donghyuck walks towards a shaded edge of the clearing, kneeling down to touch the grass. “Here,” he says softly. “This is where he died.”

  


Donghyuck can feel Jeno and Renjun watching him as he stands back up, eyes closed. Donghyuck tries to reach out to that cold place where all things not of this world dwell, his fists clenching at his sides.

  


“Taeyong?” Donghyuck asks. “If you’re here…if you’re here, can you show me? Give me some sort of sign?”

  


The wind rustles the trees, but there’s nothing but blankness, so Donghyuck reopens his eyes, shoulders rising and falling in a massive sigh. He peers around the edges of the clearing, looking for anything out of place. It’s just him, Jeno, and Renjun.

  


“We’re not gonna get anything. Let’s go,” Donghyuck decides, shoving his hands into his pockets. Disappointment colors Jeno and Renjun’s faces but they follow Donghyuck down the path once more without complaint.

  


“How old are you?” Jeno asks Renjun, probably to fill the silence more than anything else. Renjun hums. “Seventeen. Too old to still believe in and be scared of ghosts.”

  


Jeno expels a quiet laugh at that. “And yet look where you are.”

  


“Right? How about you guys?”

  


“Seventeen,” Jeno and Donghyuck answer in unison. They’re back on the main pathway now, and the wind is picking up through the trees, rustling dead leaves on the ground. A prickle at the back of Donghyuck’s neck makes his hair stand on end, and he swears he can hear someone talking nearby, but he’s unable to make out what they’re saying. Shushing Renjun and Jeno, Donghyuck holds onto Jeno’s sleeve and closes his eyes as they walk, listening closely. He can’t make out the whispers over the wind shaking the trees and stirring up leaves, try as though he might.

  


“Do you guys hear that?” Donghyuck frowns, reopening his eyes to find Renjun and Jeno both watching him with concerned looks on their faces. Renjun shakes his head no slowly. Letting go of Jeno’s sleeve, Donghyuck peers around. He sees something moving in the trees behind them, but there’s no feeling of foreboding or danger, just something wistful tugging at Donghyuck’s chest.

  


“Taeyong?” Donghyuck calls out, hopeful. He gets no response.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Wait, there’s something I wanted to show you guys. I found this picture when we were at Jungwoo’s house..” Jeno perks up suddenly, making Renjun and Donghyuck both look at him with inquiring expressions. They’ve been sitting on the front porch for a while, debating the pros and cons of a seance in the woods with the goal of getting Taeyong to appear and talk to them.

  


“Well? Where is it?” Donghyuck raises his eyebrows. Jeno gets up from where he’s been lounging on the porch swing, ambling towards the door. “It’s still in my pocket from yesterday, lemme go get it.”

  
  
  


Jeno digs through the pile of dirty clothes he’s accumulated over the week so far until he finds the pants he’d been wearing the previous day, searching through each pocket and coming up empty. Jeno frowns, searching through the rest of the clothes to see if it had fallen out of his pocket. The photograph is nowhere to be seen. A quick sweep of the bedroom tells Jeno it’s completely gone.

  


“I guess it fell out of my pocket at some point. I can’t find it,” Jeno sighs, expression glum. He sits on the porch steps with Renjun and Donghyuck. “Fuck.”

  


“Was it important?” Renjun asks, typing away on his phone. “Mark invited me over for dinner, he says you guys are welcome too.”

  


“I dunno. Guess not. I gotta ask my mom. Hyuck?” Jeno raises an eyebrow at Donghyuck, who shrugs. “Taeil will probably let me go.”

  


“Go ask now, he’s gonna come to get me-slash-us soon.” Renjun elbows Donghyuck, who pinches his arm in return before getting up and walking into the house with Jeno following.

  
  
  
  
  


Mark offers a smile as they climb into his car. He has dark circles under his eyes. Donghyuck leans forward between the front seats, taking a breath, but Mark shushes him before he can even speak.

  


“I swear to god, if you apologize I’ll fight you. I got the shit scared out of me, but I didn’t die.”

  


“But if I-“

  


Mark turns his radio up until the staticky music drowns out Donghyuck’s voice, shooting him a pointed look through the rearview mirror. Shutting his mouth, Donghyuck stares back stubbornly. Mark turns the music back down so he can speak. “My mom made poutine and also brownies, sluts, so thank her.”

  


“Noted,” Jeno answers, leaning his head against the window and watching the scenery begin to pass by as Mark pulls out of the driveway and starts back to his own house. He’s driving with one hand, the other resting on the armrest, linked with Renjun’s.

  


“Anything oogly boogly happen today?” Mark inquires, slowing at a stop sign but not quite stopping, just rolling past. Donghyuck hums, shrugs.

  


“Not to us, but Jisung texted me about some bloody freak coming into the restaurant trying to scare him earlier. Said he threw a napkin dispenser at the guy and he just vanished,” Renjun says, tone casual like he’s talking about an irate customer rather than a vengeful ghost. “Dunno why Jisung didn’t just open his mouth and wait for the noise to stop like I told him to, that would’ve been more effective and less wasteful than launching napkins.”

  


“God, and you wonder why Chenle’s so mean to you? You bully his boyfriend.” Mark turns down a different street. Renjun shrugs, and Mark sighs, carrying on, “Did Jisung say what the guy looked like?”

  


“I asked, he said he didn't get a good look ‘cause the dude was all bloody and his brains were pokin’ out of his skull.”

  


“Gross. That would be Na Jaemin though, right?”

  


Donghyuck’s impressed by Mark’s memory. Evidently, Renjun and Jeno are too, because they both look at Mark with surprised faces. Self-conscious, Mark glances over at Renjun. “What?”

  


Renjun doesn’t answer, eyes widening at something ahead of them. “Mark, stop, stop!”

  


Everyone in the car jerks forward as Mark stomps on his brakes, staring through the windshield at the figure in the middle of the road. Donghyuck recognizes Taeyong a second before everyone else does, his mouth falling open into a small ‘o’. Taeyong’s illuminated by Mark’s headlights, making the blood running down his face and neck from where one of his eyes used to be an even vivider red. He’s not doing anything, just standing there watching them calculatingly.

  


“Go around,” Renjun hisses, pushing Mark’s shoulder gently. Mark is frozen, though, staring at Taeyong with eyes the size of dinner plates. Donghyuck and Jeno share a look before Donghyuck leans forward to shake Mark by the shoulders.

  


“Mark, drive!” Renjun insists, and finally, Mark lets up on the brake, slowly driving around Taeyong. Taeyong turns his head to watch them pass by, but doesn’t give any chase. Mark drives a little faster the rest of the way home, his hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel.

  
  
  
  
  


“Everything okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Mark’s mother cradles his cheeks in her hands, frowning, as soon as the boys enter the kitchen. Mark nods, moving past her to grab plates from the cabinet. Renjun’s chewing on his lower lip, brow furrowed.

  


They all go up to Mark’s bedroom to eat. He doesn’t bother apologizing for the mess. Not that any of them care. Mark sits on his bed and shovels a forkful of food into his mouth to avoid having to speak, despite sharing more than a few significant looks with Renjun.

  


“Mark, you know you don’t have to get into all of this with us if you don’t want to.” Surprisingly, it’s Jeno who speaks up, perched on Mark’s desk. Donghyuck nods his agreement, trying and failing to catch Mark’s eye. Shrugging, Mark picks at his food, heaves a sigh.

  


“I want to help, but this stuff is fucking me up more than I thought it would. I couldn’t stop having nightmares last night after what happened at the house, and driving back here…I dunno. I don’t think I have whatever fuckin’ mental strength you guys have to keep doing this stuff.” Mark stares at the wall by Donghyuck’s head. “I thought I did, but I’m literally a big pissbaby. So..yeah. I’m opting out. At least, from the going and checking out murder sites where demons could potentially kill me part.”

  


“Understandable, have a nice day,” mumbles Donghyuck, “You’ve been a huge help to us though, seriously. I’m not sure we’d have even known where to start if you hadn’t talked to us in the library that first day, and getting Irene to let us see the archives, that was you. Give yourself some credit, pissbaby.”

  


“Oh, I am.” Mark leans into Renjun’s side, offering a bite of food to Renjun, who wrinkles his nose. “Gross, quit being gay.”

  


“No. So, where do you guys go from here?” Mark keeps holding his fork up until Renjun accepts the food, rolling his eyes.

  


“Good question,” sighs Donghyuck. He isn’t exactly sure.

**Author's Note:**

> if you enjoy, leave a comment n a kudos please!!! and if you wanna come yell at me about this story or any of my others come hit me up on my twitter @honeyboyjeno


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